‘Politics should be separated from cricket’ says Pakistan’s Misbah, worried over World T20

DUBAI // Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, says he is concerned his compatriots will be unable to play in the World Twenty20 in India next year because of security issues.

The International Cricket Council withdrew Aleem Dar, the Pakistani umpire, from officiating in matches in India earlier this week.

The sport’s governing body took the decision to replace him for India’s series against South Africa after “a group of extremists stormed the Board of Control for Cricket in India offices” according to an ICC statement.

A group representing Shiv Sena, an Indian political party, had entered the offices in Mumbai in an anti-Pakistan protest.

Given the World Twenty20 is due to be staged in India in five months time, Pakistan’s participation is in doubt.

“These are the big concerns when these sort of things happen,” said Misbah, the captain of Pakistan’s Test side.

“It puts these sort of things in your mind. You don’t want to restrict yourself to play here and not to play there. You really want to play everywhere and enjoy this game.”

Cricket administrators from India and Pakistan had been due to meet in Mumbai, with a bilateral series in the UAE between the two nations among the items on the agenda.

Misbah said political disagreements should not dictate where cricket teams are able to tour.

“It is not about Pakistan-India, wherever it happens it is always disappointing because I believe totally politics should be separated from cricket,” he said.

“It is a sport and it should be dealt with like a sport. I think that shows the sporting spirit of our team, our nation. We have to show sportsman’s spirit.

“We really face some problems to play with each other. When the Bangladesh-Australia problem occurred and Australia didn’t tour Bangladesh, that was also a problem.

“As a cricketer, we want to play each other and we don’t want any sort of politics involved.”

pradley@thenational.ae

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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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