Novak Djokovic donates €40,000 to Serbian town fighting coronavirus

Novak Djokovic has donated €40,000 (Dh147,000) to a Serbian town hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the week after tennis' world No 1 tested positive for Covid-19, according to local media reports.

Djokovic, 33, announced on June 23 that he and his wife Jelena had contracted the virus, becoming the fourth player involved in the Adria Tour to test positive.

On Thursday, the Serb's media team released a statement saying Djokovic and his wife have now both tested negative.

Djokovic received widespread criticism for organising the exhibition series in the Balkan region which also resulted in Borna Coric, Grigor Dimitrov and Viktor Troicki testing positive for the virus. Djokovic's coach Goran Ivanisevic, who was also a director for the Adria Tour, later tested positive as well.

Now, according to SportKlub TV, Djokovic has made a donation to Serbian town Novi Pazar, which declared a state of emergency at the end of June to fight a growing coronavirus outbreak in the area.

It is not the first time Djokovic has pledged financial support in the fight against the pandemic. The 17-time Grand Slam champion and his wife Jelena donated €1 million towards medical devices and supplies back in March.

Serbia had relaxed restrictions after containing the first wave of Covid-19 and limiting new cases to under 50 per day.

It prompted Djokovic to launch the Adria Tour, but the series, which was played in front of packed crowds and took few social distancing measures, descended into chaos and was cut short after Dimitrov tested positive.

Players involved in the Adria Tour also hosted kids coaching clinics, played basketball, and were filmed parting on a night out in Belgrade.

It was met with criticism from Andy Murray who said the fall-out was "not a great look for tennis", while Nick Kyrgios described the tour as "boneheaded".

The image problems suffered by the tour and its players only worsened when Alexander Zverev, who tested negative, said in a statement that he would follow medical advice and self-quarantine for two weeks, only to attend a busy party in the south of France days later.

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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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War

Director: Siddharth Anand

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor

Rating: Two out of five stars

Novak Djokovic donates €40,000 to Serbian town fighting coronavirus

Tennis world No 1 and wife Jelena have now tested negative for Covid-19, 10 days after returning positive results

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