Djokovic happy to remain under the radar

WIMBLEDON // So unheralded has Novak Djokovic's progress been at Wimbledon this past week, he may as well have been playing in the middle of the night in another city, rather than in the sunshine on the world's most famous tennis court. All the talk at Wimbledon has understandably been about the top-seeded Roger Federer and British hope Andy Murray. Djokovic, seeded No 4, has advanced to the tournament's second week without fanfare and he is does not mind that at all.

"I realise the situation that I am in right now," Djokovic said. "Andy Murray and Roger Federer are in the spotlight, and they deserve to be in that situation, because they have been playing great tennis the last six, seven months. "But you have to look from the brighter side. It's good. It kind of releases the pressure for me." Djokovic said he played his best match of the week, when he beat the American Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Wimbledon's centre court.

In the last 16 on Monday, Djokovic will face the unseeded Dudi Sela of Israel, who beat No 15 seed Tommy Robredo 7-6 (8), 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. As the first half of the fortnight winds down, most of the attention remains on Murray, seeking to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936, and the five-time champion Federer. They're on course to meet in the final, with the big-serving American Andy Roddick considered the next-strongest title contender.

Federer advanced by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets. Murray and Roddick had third-round matches scheduled today. As for Djokovic: Fish said the Serb is capable of a run at the championship. "He seems to be kind of going along quietly. He's not making too much noise out there - kind of letting everyone talk about Roger and Andy, and the other Andy, kind of going about his business." Djokovic was a Wimbledon semi-finalist at age 20 in 2007, then won the Australian Open the following year. He has 13 career titles, two this year, and while he has never won a grass-court tournament, he was the runner-up at a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Germany two weeks ago.

* AP

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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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What is the definition of an SME?

SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.

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