Karim Benzema has rarely upstaged Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo but the France striker achieved that feat with a Champions League hat-trick in Wednesday's crushing 4-0 win over Auxerre.
Benzema, 22, had previously managed just three goals in all competitions this season and was behind Gonzalo Higuain in the pecking order under new coach Jose Mourinho.
The former Olympique Lyon player, in his seventh start of the campaign, took his chance with aplomb at the Bernabeu as a second-string Real brushed aside Auxerre.
Ronaldo also chipped in with a goal, his 20th of the season in 21 matches in all competitions.
Auxerre's efforts were in any case in vain as Ajax Amsterdam's 2-0 victory at AC Milan secured third position in Group G for the Dutch side and a spot in the Europa League.
The nine-times European champions Real had already won the group, with second-placed Milan also assured of a place in the last 16.
Ronaldo, one of three regular first-teamers in the suspended Mourinho's starting 11, crossed for Benzema to nod in the opening goal in the 12th minute.
The Portugal winger lashed home the second in the 49th after Marcelo's fine through ball sent him clear and Benzema netted in the 72nd with a low shot.
He then intercepted an attempted clearance by goalkeeper Olivier Sorin before lifting the ball into an empty net to complete his treble just before the end.
"I am very pleased to have scored three goals," Benzema told Spanish television. "I am feeling better every day and that is being reflected on the pitch.
"I am going to work hard to play like I have done today all the time."
Meanwhile Arsenal, AS Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk became the final three teams to reach the knock-out stage. Roma secured second place in Group E, behind Bayern Munich, by drawing 1-1 at Cluj. FC Basel came into the final matchday needing to beat Bayern to stand any chance of catching Roma but were thrashed 3-0 in Germany.
Group H had both qualifying spots open but Shakhtar finished top by winning 2-0 at home to FC Braga, and Arsenal joined the Ukrainian champions after a nervy 3-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade.
Chelsea's perfect record in Group F ended with a 1-0 loss at Marseille to increase the pressure on manager Carlo Ancelotti.
The draw for the last 16 will be held on December 17, with group winners and teams from the same country prevented from playing each other.
Roma only needed a point to go through, but looked as if they would pick up all three when Marco Borriello put the Italian side in the lead in the 21st minute from 12 yards.
Lacina Traore headed home in the 88th to earn the Romanian team a draw. France winger Franck Ribery scored in both halves for Bayern, who were already assured of winning the group. Defensive midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk also found the target for last season's runners-up.
Basel finished third and will play in the Europa League. Arsenal reached the second round of the Champions League for the 11th straight year but were given a scare by Partizan and needed late goals by Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri to seal the win. Robin van Persie, making his first start in the competition in more than a year, put the Gunners ahead from the penalty spot in the 30th after he was fouled by Marko Jovanovic.
But Arsene Wenger's side, which climbed to the top of the Premier League last weekend, were far from their best and conceded when Cordova Cleo's shot deflected off Sebastien Squillaci and over diving Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in the 42nd minute.
The specs
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 660hp
Torque: 1,100Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 488km-560km
Price: From Dh850,000 (estimate)
On sale: October
MATCH INFO
Karnatake Tuskers 114-1 (10 ovs)
Charles 57, Amla 47
Bangla Tigers 117-5 (8.5 ovs)
Fletcher 40, Moores 28 no, Lamichhane 2-9
Bangla Tiger win by five wickets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kinetic 7
Started: 2018
Founder: Rick Parish
Based: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Industry: Clean cooking
Funding: $10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Brief scores:
Everton 2
Walcott 21', Sigurdsson 51'
Tottenham 6
Son 27', 61', Alli 35', Kane 42', 74', Eriksen 48'
Man of the Match: Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Company Profile
Company: Astra Tech
Started: March 2022
Based: Dubai
Founder: Abdallah Abu Sheikh
Industry: technology investment and development
Funding size: $500m
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UAE Tour 2020
Stage 1: The Pointe Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Silicon Oasis, 148km
Stage 2: Hatta - Hatta Dam, 168km
Stage 3: Al Qudra Cycle Track - Jebel Hafeet, 184km
Stage 4: Zabeel Park - Dubai City Walk, 173km
Stage 5: Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 162km
Stage 6: Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa, 158km
Stage 7: Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 127km