SEPANG, Malaysia // Honda’s Dani Pedrosa set the pace on Thursday during Day 2 of testing in Malaysia as injured teammate and MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez said that he would also miss next week’s Phillip Island test.
Marquez, who is absent from the Sepang circuit testing because of a broken leg, said his surgeon had advised him against taking “unnecessary risk” so that he is fit for the season’s opening race on March 23.
The Spaniard, 21, who last year became the youngest rider to win the world title and the first rookie to do so in 35 years, broke his leg during training last week in Spain.
“I’m obviously disappointed that I’m not in Sepang at the moment and to miss Phillip Island is also unfortunate,” Marquez said. “So I will take time to rest and get myself as fit as possible to return to Qatar for the first race.”
Since 2009, no premier-class rider has claimed the MotoGP championship in back-to-back campaigns.
It was a solid day of work for Pedrosa, who is seeking to capture an elusive first MotoGP world title, after hitting the top of the time sheet in 2 minutes, 00.039 seconds and ahead of Yamaha pair Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
“My performance today was better than yesterday. The bike was stable on the corner. We will work on the rear tyre tomorrow,” Pedrosa said.
The Spaniard’s best lap time was 0.5 seconds slower than the marker set down by Marquez during the previous Sepang test as riders again complained that the track was greasy, which forced the 22 riders to throttle back.
Yamaha’s Aleix Espargaro, who dominated during early testing, was second on 2:00.320 while Honda’s Alvaro Bautista, who posted the fastest time on Day 1 of a test session in this notoriously tricky circuit, was third, 0.461 seconds behind Pedrosa.
Nine-time world champion Rossi came in fourth, with the Italian 0.566 seconds slower than rival Pedrosa.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, who was fifth on 2:00.787, was again the fastest in the Italian team.
Lorenzo – a two-time MotoGP champion – finished ninth with 2:01.049.
Riders come to Sepang early each year for two test sessions to put their bikes and equipment through their paces in the often hot and humid conditions on the tight-turning circuit in preparation for the coming season.
The testing session ends on Friday. Another three-day session follows at Phillip Island, Australia, from Monday, followed by another at Qatar’s Losail circuit.
The new season kicks off at Losail on March 23. Malaysia will host the championship on October 26.
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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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Persuasion
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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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