Siya Kolisi back but Schalk Brits to lead Springboks in World Cup warm-up

Flanker Siya Kolisi is all set to make his first appearance for South Africa this season in a Rugby World Cup warm-up against Argentina on Saturday – but not in his usual role of captain.

Coach Rassie Erasmus said Kolisi, who is recovering from a knee injury, may be substituted during the first half in Pretoria and chose veteran hooker Schalk Brits as leader. No 8 Duane Vermeulen (twice) and lock Eben Etzebeth (once) captained the Springboks during the Rugby Championship campaign in which they beat Australia and Argentina and drew with New Zealand.

At 38 years and three months, Brits will become the second-oldest captain of the Springboks after retired lock Victor Matfield, who had the honour when 38 years and 172 days.

"I have asked Siya to empty his tank and go hard for as long as he can," Erasmus said after making 15 changes to the side that triumphed 46-13 in Argentina last Saturday to win the Rugby Championship. "I told him he might even come off in the first half as he has played less than 50 minutes of Currie Cup rugby in the last 12 weeks.

"But I need him to have a taste of Test rugby again before we leave for Japan," referring to the absence of Kolisi from the team since a loss in Wales last November.

While Kolisi is guaranteed a place in the 31-man World Cup squad to be named on August 26, many of those who will face the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld are fighting for seats on the flight to Tokyo.

"Some of these players will know they are on the plane but for others it is make or break – and even if they do not make the plane there will be six standby roles to be identified," Erasmus said. "I am really excited to see what they can do on Saturday, to prove their own cases, and also show just how strong South African rugby is."

In the backline, full-back Warrick Gelant, centre Andre Esterhuizen and winger Dillyn Leyds, are marginal cases for inclusion in the squad. Props Thomas du Toit and Vincent Koch and loose forwards Rynhardt Elstadt and Marcell Coetzee are in similar positions.

The South Africa team did have some unexpected news on Wednesday when attack consultant Swys de Bruin asked to be released from his role. SA Rugby said De Bruin was quitting for "personal and medical reasons". De Bruin is the head coach of the Lions Super Rugby team and took a brief break from that job this year because of a stress-related illness.

The Boks face defending champions New Zealand on September 21 in their opening World Cup Pool B match, then play Canada, Italy and Namibia.

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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Siya Kolisi back but Schalk Brits to lead Springboks in World Cup warm-up

Coach Rassie Erasmus says Kolisi, recovering from knee injury, may be substituted during first half against Argentina

The specs: Audi e-tron