Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi will be making his 40th World Rally Championship (WRC) start in this weekend's Rally Jordan.
The Emirati driver has a strong chance of scoring points in his BP Abu Dhabi Ford, as he has tasted victory in Jordan before, in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), in 2007.
Armed with almost a decade of experience negotiating Jordan's rocky, man-made gravel tracks, Sheikh Khalid has targeted matching the top 10 finish he secured in the 2008 Dead Sea round's maiden WRC foray.
"I have deep knowledge of these stages, always get a good reception from the local fans and have shown speed and form here in the past," Sheikh Khalid said. "In 2008, I was sitting comfortably in seventh when l suffered two punctured tyres in the final stage that took me out of point-scoring contention. I've been awaiting the next WRC opportunity to tackle this familiar terrain ever since."
The constructed Jordan passes are run 420 metres below sea level and pass numerous historical sites, such as the Jordan River, Mount Nebo and the ancient Roman-built city of Jerash.
Sheikh Khalid said that the man-made nature of the course makes it a tough rally to compete in. "These purpose-built tracks lack the natural contours and usual landmarks, so our pace notes have to be extremely accurate to identify the direction of the paths," he said. "We're ready and are eyeing a strong result."
Rally Jordan is the fourth round of the 13-race WRC championship. After three events, Sheikh Khalid has one point in the drivers' championship after his 10th-place finish in the Swedish season-opener.
Ford Abu Dhabi holds a 10-point lead at the top of the manufacturers' standings, while Mikko Hirvonen, the team's lead driver, also heads the drivers' championship on 58 points - level with Citroen's Sebastien Loeb, the seven-time world champion.
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
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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.”