Tournament presents UAE with a learning curve

DUBAI // Zoran Zupcevic, the UAE national basketball coach, is expecting his sport to get a major boost among Emirati youngsters later this year when the Fiba Under 17 World Championship brings 15 of the best basketball nations to the country.

The World Championship will be held across three venues in Dubai from August 8 to 16, with the Hamdan Sports Complex hosting the finale. The tournament, Fiba’s first event in the Middle East, will bring 192 stars of the future from traditional powerhouses like the two-time defending champions United States, Argentina, Serbia and the 2012 runners-up Australia.

The UAE managed to avoid all those title favourites in Wednesday night’s draw at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Palm Jumeirah. Zupcevic was realistic in his assessment of the group, where his team will be taking on Puerto Rico, Italy and Spain.

“Any group for us would have been tough,” said the Bosnian. “So, honestly, it doesn’t really matter. It is a learning curve for us and playing against any team is going to be a great experience for our players, especially since we are going to continue playing all the other teams as they have changed the format for this event. That’s great for us.

“We will get exposure to American basketball with Puerto Rico in the group, and then we have two European teams, which means it’s going to be a great experience for our kids and, in general, I think it is going to be a great momentum for us to start rebuilding basketball and hopefully attract a higher number of kids to the sport.”

The UAE will start their campaign against Italy on August 8, meet Spain on the next day and Puerto Rico on August 11, after a rest day. Depending on their finish in Group C, they will then play a team from Group D.

A win would see them move into the quarter-finals, and if they lose, the hosts will take part in the classification rounds for the positions from ninth to 16th.

“There cannot be a better promotional opportunity than this event,” Zupcevic said. “I would say this is exactly what we needed. I believe when our kids are exposed to an event like this, they could be infected with what I call the virus of basketball. Even if they are infected by the virus of sports in general, I believe the country is going to be happy.”

arizvi@thenational.ae

The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo

Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm

Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm

Transmission: Eight-speed auto

Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km

On sale: December

Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)

Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai

Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi

Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia

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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At a glance

- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years

- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills

- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis

- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector

- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes

- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government