UAE

Khalifa Foundation aid for Afghanistan efforts

Money from the UAE will go towards education in Afghanistan as the result of an agreement signed this week.

Money from the UAE will go towards education in Afghanistan as the result of an agreement signed this week between the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and the United Nations Children's Fund. The state news agency, WAM, reported that cash from the foundation would be used for "the procurement and distribution of teaching and learning materials" for more than 2.6 million children and 114,000 primary teachers.

It was also intended that it should contribute to a 20 per cent increase in the enrolment of Afghan girls at primary school over the next five years and help ensure regular attendance by children at schools. The agreement was signed by Mohammed Haji al Khoori, the executive director of the foundation, and Dr Ayman Abu Laban, the Unicef representative in the Gulf Area. Mr al Khoori said it was one of many partnerships the foundation was seeking to build with governmental and private institutions.

The news follows the more general deal reported yesterday, between the foundation and Virgin Unite, the charitable arm of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire. That arrangement is for co-operation on education and health initiatives worldwide. Earlier in the week, the UAE body and the British-based aid organisation Oxfam agreed to work together to provide relief support to Afghanistan. According to WAM, statistics show that more than two million Afghan children do not attend primary school and literacy levels are declining. The country had an "urgent need" for 100,000 qualified primary school teachers, it said, especially women, who represented only 28 per cent of the total number of teachers.

Commending the "humanitarian efforts" of the UAE and especially the Khalifa Foundation, Dr Abu Laban said Unicef would now be able to provide "much needed support to promote education for all children in Afghanistan". Mr al Khoori added: "We are certain that through this agreement we will help lessen the suffering of children in Afghanistan, knowing that a significant number of children do not go to school."

* WAM / SA

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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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