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Second look brings a belated apology

'Stewards were right' to penalise him, admits the seven-time former champion Schumacher.

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Michael Schumacher has acknowledged that his attempt to block former teammate Rubens Barrichello at the Hungarian Grand Prix was too hard and has apologised to the Brazilian driver. The German, driving for the Mercedes GP team, pushed Barrichello's Williams-Toyota towards the pit wall, and then on to the pitlane exit as they fought for 10th place on lap 66 of the race at the Hungaroring.

After the race, Schumacher was adamant that he had driven fairly and had given Barrichello enough room. But after reviewing the incident he said on his website that he has to agree with the stewards that the move was too hard. The seven-time champion says he had no intention of endangering the Williams driver and that he was "sorry" if Barrichello had that feeling. His statement read: "Yesterday, directly after the race, I was still in the heat of the moment, but after seeing the scene against Rubens again I have to say the stewards were right with their assessment: the manoeuvre was too hard.

"Of course, I wanted to make it difficult for him to overtake me. However, I indicated quite clearly that I wouldn't let him pass me from inside, but logically I never meant to endanger him with my manoeuvre. If he has that impression, then sorry, that was not my intention." Schumacher was found guilty by the race stewards of "illegitimately impeding" Barrichello and was punished with a 10-place grid penalty for the next round of the championship, in Belgium on August 29.

Meanwhile, Ross Brawn, the Mercedes GP team boss, defended Schumacher's actions. Brawn said that he was certain that Schumacher moved only to defend his position and did so without any dangerous intent towards his rival. "It may have ended up looking in a dangerous way, but that wasn't the intent I am sure by Michael," he said. "Michael was defending his position, trying to encourage Rubens to go around the outside. I don't think for a moment that he saw Rubens there and thought 'I will squeeze him'.

"But it is a pretty tough business F1 and if you open up every time someone tries to attack you, then you know the drivers in F1 who don't defend." Schumacher has been involved in a number of controversial incidents during his career in Formula One, but Brawn was keen to play down the seriousness of this one. "I don't think for a moment that Michael was trying to put Rubens in the wall, but he was trying to discourage him from coming down the inside because he thought that was where he would be vulnerable," he said.

* Agencies

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The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

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MATCH INFO

Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai

On Women's Day
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Groom and Two Brides

Director: Elie Semaan

Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla

Rating: 3/5

Simran

Director Hansal Mehta

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey

Three stars

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