West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahino has tweeted what appears to be a public plea to allow him to leave the club, presumably to Tottenham Hotspur who have been after the striker for weeks.
With less than an hour until the summer window closes, Berahino on Tuesday tweeted he “can’t say exactly how the club has treated me” but implied he would never play for Jeremy Peace, the West Brom chairman, again.
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"Sad how i cant say exactly how the club has treated me but i can officially say i will never play Jeremy Peace" read the tweet verbatim, as reports circulated that Spurs had submitted a fourth and presumably final play for Berahino around 5pm (8pm UAE) on Tuesday. The deadline is 6pm locally (9pm UAE) on Tuesday night.
Also see: The National's Transfer Talk page
Berahino had been relatively silent throughout the transfer process, which has seen Mauricio Pochettino pursuing him to be Tottenham’s second striker for a number of weeks in the run-up to the summer window’s close. He has sat out the last few West Brom matches as Tony Pulis has repeatedly voiced his frustration that players have to deal with transfer talk after the season starts.
West Brom have so far rejected all of Tottenham’s overtures for the 22-year-old England Under 21 international, who scored 14 league goals in 38 appearances last season.
Spurs have began the season with three draws and one loss, putting them 15th on the Premier League table with just three goals scored so far. West Brom are one place above, with a win, a draw and two losses.
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World record transfers
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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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