Brian McDermott was dismissed after Reading were beaten by Aston Villa.
Brian McDermott was dismissed after Reading were beaten by Aston Villa.
Brian McDermott was dismissed after Reading were beaten by Aston Villa.
Brian McDermott was dismissed after Reading were beaten by Aston Villa.

Sport

Reading dismiss manager Brian McDermott after Premier League defeat to Aston Villa

Fourth manager to be sacked in the Premier League this season after owner Anton Zingarevich seeks to avoid relegation.

Reuters

March 12, 2013

  • English
  • Arabic

LONDON // Reading hit the panic button and parted ways with manager Brian McDermott after four consecutive Premier League defeats left the Premier League club deep in relegation trouble.

Reading said that owner Anton Zingarevich felt a change was necessary in a bid to survive in the top flight after winning promotion last season.

A 2-1 defeat by fellow strugglers Aston Villa at the weekend left Reading level on 23 points with fast-improving bottom club Queens Park Rangers and four points short of fourth-bottom Villa with nine matches remaining.

"Owner Anton Zingarevich wishes to place on record his thanks to Brian who had achieved great success with the club since taking over as manager in December 2009," the club said.

"Brian gained promotion to the Premier League last year for only the second time in the club's history thanks to a remarkable run at the end of last season.

"However, in our current situation, (Anton Zingarevich) felt that a change was necessary."

The club said the search for former Arsenal midfielder McDermott's successor had already begun.

McDermott narrowly failed to get Reading into the Premier League in his first season in charge, reaching the playoff final where they lost to Swansea City, but a storming finish last year earned them automatic promotion.

Reading's decision to part company with McDermott took the number of top-flight managers to lose their jobs this season to four. Mark Hughes (Queens Park Rangers), Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) and Nigel Adkins (Southampton) were also dismissed.

With QPR showing signs of life under Hughes's replacement Harry Redknapp, Reading will have their work cut out to survive, especially as their next two matches are away to leaders Manchester United and Arsenal.

They also host champions Manchester City and Liverpool before the end of the season.

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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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