Dubai Hurricanes’ women, representing UAE, reach international open semi-finals

DUBAI // Overachievement is a rare thing on the fields of the UAE. Such is the country’s thirst for success, expectations are often inflated, and it inevitably leads to disappointment.

Friday night, however, a team of women representing the Emirates showed courage and class to unexpectedly – and comfortably – finish atop their pool at the Dubai Rugby Sevens.

Dubai Hurricanes are competing in the International Open Women’s tournament for the first time after deciding to step up a level and fill the void left by the UAE national team, who are missing from this year’s tournament.

The jump to international level was expected to be too large for a side playing with only Gulf experience. Yet while they should be losing, instead, they are winning.

Over the past two days, they have played four matches, including games against the Swiss national team and another against representatives of Russia. They have won all four and today will play in the semi-final at 1.20pm.

Their performances have been all-conquering, with 75 points scored across their first three games and only 24 conceded.

Against the Russians yesterday, the Hurricanes went one better, bursting out of the blocks to immediately take the lead with their first attack. The final score read 37-0 and it could have been even more.

“We have done really well,” said Jenny Matheson, the captain of the Hurricanes. “We have a strong team in the league here and knew we would give it a good crack, but I definitely didn’t think we would come top of the pool.

“I thought we would come second or third rather than fourth or fifth, but to finish top of the group and put in the displays we have, it is a bit above and beyond what we expected.”

Matheson warned that today’s opponents, Askaris Predators, will be stronger than any of the sides they have yet played. Though the Predators lost their opening match, Pool B has proven a far-tougher group.

But the team rallied back from the opening day disappointment and progressed yesterday with an aggregate score of 79-51.

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae

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Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier

UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs

Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)

1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0

Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am

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.”