Sport

Players at centre of scandal miss Pakistan team practice

The Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif will travel to London tomorrow to meet with Pakistan officials.

The three Pakistani cricketers who have been named in a spot-fixing scandal will not practise with their team in Taunton today, their manager Yawar Saaed said. The Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif will travel to London tomorrow to meet with Pakistan officials in the wake of the allegations. "The three will also be meeting with the Pakistan High Commissioner in London on Wednesday," Saeed told the Geo Super channel.

The three players have been indicted by a 35-year-old Pakistani man caught taking bribes to fix incidents during the Lord's Test against England last week. The British newspaper The News of the World reported on Sunday that Pakistan's bowlers were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls on the opening day. The three players and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were spoken to by police after being implicated in the story, and some players' mobile phones were confiscated.

The man, Mazhar Majeed, who was arrested and then released on bail, is accused of trying to defraud bookmakers. Pakistan play a warm-up match in Taunton on Thursday ahead of two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against England. Sources in the Pakistan team said it was decided to keep the three players away from the practice session to avoid any more media attention. "The three have also been told to prepare for the meeting at the high commission in which a British legal expert will also be present," a source said.

The source said the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption and security unit and Britain's Scotland Yard would submit their report on the spot-fixing allegations by Thursday. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement yesterday that until the investigations were completed no player would be suspended. The PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said the players being investigated would not be suspended without proof of wrongdoing. "There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard," Ijaz told website cricinfo. "This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."

The scandal has outraged cricket fans in Pakistan and the country's federal sports minister, Mir Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, said: "No one has the right to play with the dignity, honour of the country. If the allegations are proved then there could be maximum punishment. It could be lifetime ban, it could be anything, it depends on the allegations." * Agencies

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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.”