Britain's Prince William settled a phone-hacking claim against Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm for a “very large sum” after a secret deal struck with Buckingham Palace, lawyers for the heir's brother Prince Harry said in court documents.
The Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles, is suing Murdoch's News Group Newspapers at the High Court in London for multiple unlawful acts allegedly committed on behalf of its tabloids, the Sun and defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.
During three days of preliminary hearings this week, NGN, which has paid out millions to settle more than 1,000 phone-hacking cases, is seeking to stop claims by Prince Harry and British actor Hugh Grant, arguing they should have acted sooner.
It also denies anyone from the Sun was involved in unlawful activity.
Prince Harry's lawyers said the publisher's application went against a “secret agreement” between the royal family and NGN, which the Duke of Sussex was informed of in 2012.
In court documents, David Sherborne, representing Prince Harry, said the late Queen Elizabeth II was involved in the “discussion and authorisation” of the agreement. It said that members of the royal family would not pursue claims against NGN until after the conclusion of litigation over hacking.
Mr Sherborne said in written arguments that the agreement “meant that the claimant could not bring a claim against NGN for phone hacking at that time”.
“It was agreed that … News would admit or settle such a claim with an apology” at the end of the phone hacking case, he added.
“In 2017, the claimant and the institution began to push for the outstanding claim to be resolved,” he said.
“However, News filibustered in relation to this until, in 2019, the claimant had enough and issued his claim.”
Mr Sherborne said Prince William “recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes”.
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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.”
