BANGALORE // The opening batsman Gautam Gambhir fetched the highest price on the opening day of bidding for Indian Premier League players, heading to Kolkata Knight Riders for US$2.4 million (Dh8.8m).
The IPL franchises spent liberally on Indian players yesterday ahead of the fourth staging of the high-profile domestic Twenty20 tournament, but there were no takers for some big foreign names, including Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs.
Kolkata spent $2.1m to pick up all-rounder Yusuf Pathan. Pune spent $2.1m to get Robin Uthappa, while Mumbai Indians splashed out $2m on Rohit Sharma. Others to attract big fees included all-rounder Irfan Pathan (Delhi Daredevils, $1.9m), Yuvraj Singh (Pune, $1.8m) and Saurabh Tiwari (Bangalore Royal Challengers, $1.6m), completing a list of seven Indians at the top of the table.
Gambhir, who led Delhi in last year's IPL, was surprisingly not bid for by his former team, even as others clamoured for the left-hander. His record price was 12 times his base salary of $200,000, as new franchises Pune and Kochi as well as Mumbai Indians bid aggressively for him before Kolkata clinched the deal.
The highest bids before this auction were the $1.55m each for the England players Kevin Pietersen (Bangalore Royal Challengers) and Andrew Flintoff (Chennai Super Kings) during the second edition, in 2009.
Ten franchises are participating in the two-day bidding, including Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab - teams banished by the IPL for breaching ownership regulations but readmitted for the auction following a court order.
More than 350 players were up for grabs for the next three seasons, with the sequence of players coming up for auction decided by drawing of lots.
Surprisingly, no one bid for the former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was a leading player for Kolkata and among 21 players with the highest base price of $400,000.
Those not bid for are likely to go under the hammer again towards the end of the auction today.
Among the foreign players, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (Kochi, $1.5m), Australia's David Hussey (King's XI Punjab, $1.4m) and the South African paceman Dale Steyn (Deccan, $1.2m) formed the top rung.
The South Africans AB de Villiers (Bangalore), Jacques Kallis (Kolkata), the newly named Australia Twenty20 captain Cameron White (Deccan) and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (Kochi) were sold for $1.1 million each.
New Zealand's Ross Taylor was the other player who touched the $1m mark.
The Australian veteran Adam Gilchrist moved from Deccan to King's XI Punjab for $900,000, while his compatriot Andrew Symonds was taken for $850,000 by Mumbai and will now play alongside Harbhajan Singh, whom he accused of racial abuse three years ago.
Twelve players, including the India captain MS Dhoni (Chennai), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai) and Shane Warne (Rajasthan), were retained by their original franchises.
Teams are allowed to spend a maximum of $9m, which includes money for those players retained from previous seasons.
The 2011 IPL season will be from April 8 to May 22.
Big names left on the shelf
Some of cricket’s biggest names failed to attract bids at yesterday’s IPL auction. Among them were Brian Lara, the holder of the highest individual scores in Test and first-class cricket, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior and James Anderson of the England team that beat Australia 3-1, the West Indies’ big-bitting Chris Gayle, the Indian star Sourav Ganguly,Tamim Iqbal, Chamara Kapugedera, Murali Kartik, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Luke Wright, Mark Boucher, Graeme Manou, Herschelle Gibbs and Jesse Ryder.
The five pillars of Islam
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Director: Christopher McQuarrie
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
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Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
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Investment raised: $4 million
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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.”
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
