Carlos Villanueva, centre, the Al Shabab forward, will be in action against Al Ain tonight in the Etisalat Cup.
Carlos Villanueva, centre, the Al Shabab forward, will be in action against Al Ain tonight in the Etisalat Cup.
Carlos Villanueva, centre, the Al Shabab forward, will be in action against Al Ain tonight in the Etisalat Cup.
Carlos Villanueva, centre, the Al Shabab forward, will be in action against Al Ain tonight in the Etisalat Cup.

Sport

Out of contention for Pro League title, four sides prepare for Etisalat Cup

Al Wahda meet Al Shabab in the first match, at 5.40pm at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in Al Ain, and Al Wasl play Al Ain at 8.30pm at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Paul Oberjuerge

March 10, 2011

  • English
  • Arabic

Four clubs with vanishing hopes in the Pro League title race can move within a victory of a domestic trophy in the Etisalat Cup semi-finals tonight.

Al Wahda meet Al Shabab in the first match, at 5.40pm at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in Al Ain, and Al Wasl play Al Ain at 8.30pm at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

"We see this game as a great chance to go to a final," said Alexandre Gallo, the coach of Al Ain, the nine-time champions who find themselves in the unfamiliar position of the relegation zone.

"We are determined to reach the final," Rami Yaslem, the captain, said. "It's the only local competition left for Al Ain."

Wasl, their opponents tonight, are in the semi-finals of the President's Cup and lie fourth in the league, within reach of an Asian Champions League berth for 2011.

"We are competing in three tournaments and giving equal weight to each of them," said Leandro Simpson Louredo, the Wasl assistant coach. "Al Ain have only this tournament left and they will very much want to win this game."

Al Ain have been battered by injuries and will be without their playmaker, Omar Abdulrahman, who is on national duty with the Under 23 team.

Since loaning target man Jose Sand to Deportivo La Coruna in January, Al Ain have struggled to score.

"We do not have a clear striker so the goals have to be scored by other members of the team," Yaslem said. "Others have to step up. We all have to work together to solve this problem."

Gallo, the Brazilian who took over the team in December, said his club have played well recently, including in a 1-0 Champions League home defeat to FC Seoul last week.

"We have often been better than the other side, but we will have trouble until we start scoring goals," he said.

Wahda and Shabab are also in the President's Cup semi-finals but lag in the middle of the league table.

Wahda played an entertaining 1-1 Champions League draw with Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan last week. Shabab have not played since a 3-0 victory over second-tier side Al Dhaid nearly two weeks ago.

Wahda's attack is led by Fernando Baiano, who has been troubled by a groin injury, and his Brazilian compatriot Hugo.

Shabab are built around a trio of foreigners: the diminutive Chilean playmaker Carlos Villanueva and the Brazilian forwards Julio Cesar and Jociel Ferreira.

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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