Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner says he is ready to leave the club - but only if his new destination fulfils certain conditions.
The Dane is keen to quit the Emirates Stadium side after a frustrating spell on the sidelines, and spent last season on loan at Sunderland.
But the player insists that a club he signs for must be in the Champions League, that he must be able to visit his son in London, and that he must get regular first team football.
"I need to be happy," he told Sporten.dk.
"A lot of people think that it is all about the money, but money does not matter if you are not happy.
"I have been in a situation before where I made a lot of money without being happy. I need to be happy when I come in which is universal for everyone.
"You need to be excited to come in to work."
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Olympiacos have continued their summer squad-strengthening after signing Portuguese international midfielder Paulo Machadoto for a reported EU2.7m (Dh12.2m).
The 26-year-old, capped four times for Portugal, joins from Toulouse on a three-year deal.
"I am very happy to have come to Olympiakos," Machado said.
"I came to help win the championship. I will work as hard as I can to help the team and to offer whatever I can."
---
Wigan have bolstered their forward options after signing Ivory Coast international Arouna Kone from Spanish side Levante for an undisclosed fee.
The Latics confirmed Kone, who scored 15 goals for Levante in La Liga last season, has moved to the DW Stadium on a three-year deal
The 28-year-old is the fourth player to arrive at the DW Stadium in the off-season after defender Ivan Ramis, Fraser Fyvie and Ryo Miyaichi.
---
Wolves have rejected a third bid from Sunderland for striker Steven Fletcher, thought to have been around £14m (Dh80.8m)
The English Championship side value the player at £15m, and have said they now want the matter brought to a firm conclusion.
"All parties need to draw a line under this matter, which has now dragged on for over a month," said chief executive Jez Moxey.
"If our valuations of them are not met then they will remain at Wolves but we cannot allow this speculation about their futures to drag on indefinitely up to the closure of the transfer window."
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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