Title race will go all the way, says al Qassimi

As he finalised his own Rally Spain preparations, BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi was of the opinion that his teammate Mikko Hirvonen's title fight with Sebastien Loeb was destined to go down to the wire. With five points separating the two, al Qassimi predicted bitumen king Loeb would conquer his Finnish rival on Catalunya's asphalt surface and ensure a nail-biting season-finale at Rally Great Britain at the end of October.

"Mikko can't win here," said al Qassimi. "Citroen are good on asphalt and Loeb is a tarmac specialist. Of course anyone can have a problem, Loeb included. If he does, the title race is finished. "It will be very tactical, a strategy game. But I think it will go to Great Britain - the last round will be very exciting." With two years in the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority-sponsored Ford team under his belt, the 2004 Middle East Rally champion is eager to continue developing his skills. But he admitted his frustrations at the repeated absence of pre-rally test opportunities.

"It depends on the situation but if I take more risks I need to be careful," he said. "I need to re-discover my limits on tarmac. I had some good times in Australia, but I need consistency. It's been a long time since I drove on asphalt and yet I'm the only driver who hasn't had a test. "I'm not too happy about it but the [testing] date I was given fell during Eid - I couldn't do it." Historically, Rally Spain has not been the kindest of hunting grounds for the Emirati - who sits in 12th place in the WRC rankings on six points. In his debut WRC year in 2007, al Qassimi finished a commendable 12th, but he struggled to 21st place last year.

"I don't have many expectations, but it's my third time in Spain. I'll push with everything I have to try to finish in the points," added al Qassimi. emegson@thenational.ae

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MATCH INFO

Sheffield United 0 Wolves 2 (Jimenez 3', Saiss 6)

Man of the Match Romain Saiss (Wolves)

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.”