A host of events are being prepared to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on board the Dubai-based ship that shares her name.
Gala dinners, variety shows, pub quizzes, afternoon tea and tours of the Queen Elizabeth 2 will pay tribute to the queen for being on the throne for 70 years.
Staycation deals are also available for those who want to spend the night aboard the former luxury liner that was transformed into a museum and hotel at Port Rashid in 2018.
The celebrations are scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4, to coincide with events happening in the UK.
“It’s an opportunity for people here to celebrate the incredible achievement of the queen in reigning for 70 years,” said Robert Duce, chief executive of Outside the Box, which is running the celebrations.
“Regardless of your politics, you have to say this is an incredible feat. Her reign goes all the way back to the likes of [Dwight] Eisenhower and [Winston] Churchill, prime ministers and presidents have come and gone in that time but she remains constant.
“It’s something that British people can be very proud of and it’s only right we celebrate it.”
The QE2 is a vessel that some call the greatest ship the world has ever seen. It was built in the famed shipyards of John Brown in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1967 by the queen. Her maiden voyage took place in 1969.
It would go on to become the Cunard Line’s flagship for more than 30 years and was succeeded by the Queen Mary 2 in 2004.
When the QE2 was purchased by Dubai World in 1997, it had completed more than 800 Atlantic crossings and had carried 2.5 million passengers. French hospitality company Accor is now taking over the running of the QE2, with plans to increase the number of rooms from 224 to 447.
Mr Duce said he expected more than 1,000 people to attend the gala dinners over the course of the weekend.
Entertainment will be provided by the Royal Marines Corps of Drums, a piper and a military band flown over from the UK for the weekend. Tickets for the dinner are Dh595 a person.
A variety performance is also scheduled to take place on both nights, while jugglers, a Shirley Bassey tribute act and a local ballet school will also be performing.
Prices for the variety performance range between Dh125 and Dh175.
Afternoon tea, that most British of traditions, will also be available onboard throughout the week.
The ship's Golden Lion pub will also be hosting many events, including a pub quiz on Wednesday, June 1. Although it opened on the QE2 only in 1994 in what had been the old theatre bar, Mr Duce claimed it could be considered one of the emirate's oldest bars.
“There’s going to be a minimum spend of Dh96 per person at the quiz in The Golden Lion,” said Mr Duce.
“That is because the queen is 96 years old, so we thought it was quite appropriate.”
Another event taking place onboard the ship will be the Big Jubilee Family Lunch, Mr Duce said.
“All over the UK, people are being encouraged to have street parties on June 5 to mark the occasion,” he said.
“We decided to do the same in the UAE for all the family and there will be children’s entertainment, too.
“The main difference is we won’t be able to put huge amounts of food in the middle of each table because of Covid-19 restrictions.”
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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Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
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