Yellow Submarine in murky waters



It was business as usual for Spain's big two as they both won at the weekend, Real Madrid triumphing in La Coruna for the first time in 18 years and a Pedro goal giving Barcelona a 1-0 victory along Spain's northern coast at Sporting Gijon. The Catalans still have a five-point lead over Real, but below that the gap has extended to eight points as third-placed Valencia lost at Sevilla, who have moved up to fourth.

The real drama of the weekend was at Villarreal, who dismissed their manager Ernesto Valverde after they slipped to a dreadful 2-0 home defeat against Osasuna. Valverde had a poor start to his Villarreal career after taking over from the Madrid-bound Manuel Pellegrini last summer. Without a win in their first seven league games, the injury-hit Yellow Submarines were bottom of a league in which they usually occupied a top-four spot. With the sixth highest wage bill in Spain behind Real, Barca, Valencia, Atletico and Sevilla, Villarreal are geared for a finish in the European places.

Their squad, which had also regularly reached the latter stages of European competition, including a 2006 Champions League semi-final against Arsenal, is packed with top players like Nilmar, the Brazilian forward, his strike partners Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente, plus Spanish internationals Marcos Senna, Santiago Cazorla and Joan Capdevila. Gates plummeted as many of the 20,000 season ticket holders stayed away or watched the "B" team instead, but then six wins in eight league games between October and the end of the year propelled them up the table. Atletico Madrid were beaten away and a point was earned at Camp Nou after an impressive fighting performance. But Villarreal's form has slipped again. Struggling second division side Celta Vigo despatched them from the Copa del Rey and a poor home draw against Almeria was following by an emphatic 4-1 defeat at neighbours Valencia. Sunday's humiliation was the final straw for Fernando Roig, the club president, and he released Valverde after the game. He became the seventh Primera Liga coach to be dismissed this season after Atletico's Abel Resino, Racing's Juan Carlos Mandia, Marcelino Garcia Toral at Zaragoza, Hugo Sanchez at Almeria, Jose Angel Ziganda at Xerez and, yesterday, Real Valladolid sacked Jose Luis Mendilibar.

Valverde will be replaced by Juan Carlos Garrido, initially until the end of the season. Garrido was in charge of Villarreal's B team which plays in the second division. To illustrate the strength in depth at the club, no other Spanish top-flight side apart from Villarreal have a reserve team in the second division. Garrido, who has coached at the club for 12 years, led the B team to promotion last season. They have excelled this year and sit just four points off the promotion places - though Spanish law would prevent them from going up as a club cannot have two teams in the same division.

He took charge in a training session with the first team yesterday morning and has the luxury of a hugely-talented squad and limited expectations following the disappointment of Valverde, who had led Olympiakos to the Greek league and cup double last season. Villarreal are 10th, with just seven wins in their 20 games so far and six fewer points than at the same stage last season. They are eight points off Deportivo in sixth, but just nine from safety at the other end. Their new coach will seek to improve their dreadful away form (one victory all season), starting at a Mallorca side who have won all nine of their home games this season.

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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.”

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Brief scoreline:

Manchester United 2

Rashford 28', Martial 72'

Watford 1

Doucoure 90'

How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
  • The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
  • The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
  • The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
  • The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
  • The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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Where can I submit a sample?

Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.

Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:

  • Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
  • Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
  • Al Towayya in Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
  • Bareen International Hospital
  • NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
  • NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
  • NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
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
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