DUBAI // The men's event at the Dubai Tennis Championships could see a re-match of the Australian Open final as Roger Federer, the world No 1, was paired with Andy Murray, the man he beat in Melbourne last month, in the same half of the draw yesterday. Federer, winner of 16 grand slam finals, is scheduled to meet Murray, the world No 3, in the semi-finals.
The 32-player tournament, which suffered the late pull-out of American Andy Roddick last night through fatigue, will see six of the world's top-10 players battle for a share of the US$1.6 million (Dh5.9m) prize purse at the Aviation Club, starting tomorrow. Murray, who lost to the Swiss in the final of the 2008 US Open, before missing out on his mai-den grand slam title once more in Melbourne last month after facing a formidable Federer in the final, will meet a qualifier in the first round.
However, the UAE's solo flag-flier, Mahmoud-Nader Al Baloushi, saw any hopes he held of a potential dream match with Murray shattered after losing 6-2, 6-4 to Russian Igor Kunitisyn in the first round of qualifying yesterday. The Kuwaiti Mohammed Ghareeb will now be left to represent the Arab world and will be buoyed by the draw, which sees him start his campaign against an as yet unknown qualifier.
Federer, who spends three months of the year in the emirate and has left Dubai's annual ATP event a champion four times in previous years, will meet Frenchman Julien Benneteau, the world No 39, in the first round. Federer has not lost in the first round at the Aviation Club since Murray defeated him here in 2008. Marin Cilic, the strapping Croatian who recently entered the world's top 10, has been drawn against Arnaud Clement of France and could face Federer in the quarter-finals.
In the lower half of the draw the champion and second seed Novak Djokovic, the world No 2 who overcame David Ferrer to win his first Dubai title last year, will meet Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in his opening match, but if the Serb can progress as expected he could face a potential quarter-final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world No 9, who has been awar-ded a wild-card. The Frenchman will play compatriot Michael Llodra in his first-round tie.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
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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.”
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
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