Olympic athletes stay away from London rain



LONDON // Athletes flooding into Britain for the London Olympics may not now need reinforced umbrellas with drier weather predicted in the build-up to the Games although sun cream is unlikely to be required.

After being swamped by unusually wet weather for months, the clouds were higher and whiter and there were even patches of blue as athletes checked in to the Olympic Village yesterday.

While the Met Office confirmed that there were some encouraging signs, the improvement came too late to convince some of China's top athletes to arrive early.

Top hurdler Liu Xiang, according to his coach, had headed to Germany to tune up rather than risk tweaking muscles in the build up to his quest for gold in the 110 hurdles.

He pulled out of the hurdles final at London's Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace last Saturday after complaining of muscle aches, before leaving the capital.

"Other Chinese teams have also chosen to move their base thanks to London's cold weather, so Liu Xiang is not the only one," coach Sun Haiping was quoted in the China Daily website.

Britain is on course for the worst summer in living memory, with warm, sunny days able to be counted on the fingers of one hand so far.

Physiologist Steve Ingham of the English Institute said for the short, powerful, explosive events such as track sprints, the muscles need to be warm because their contraction is then more efficient.

"They would not necessarily be dramatically slow but they would not be optimally fast," if the weather was cold or wet, he said.

In contrast, the cold should help marathon runners because they will not accumulate heat at such a great rate.

Bookmakers William Hill are factoring in the weather in the odds it is offering, saying it expects fewer records to be broken in London because of the miserable weather.

However, there may be some good news for organisers fearing soggy sandpits in the Olympic Stadium, muddy equestrian courses and howling gales at the sailing regatta.

"There are signs that by the end of this week we should have normal summer weather," said Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers.

"Certainly we are not expecting a heatwave, but the shift in the weather pattern means there will be more of the traditional north-west, south-east divide.

"The south of Britain should have higher pressure and lighter winds by the end of the week and that could be the case for next week too, although it's too early to predict exactly what we can expect on the first weekend of the Games."

"I've heard reports of hot sunshine, but I think that's maybe a bit over-enthusiastic. We should have longer dry spells and more normal temperatures though."

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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.”