Norway annoyed after Swedish missile crashes in its territory

Norway has expressed displeasure at Nordic neighbour Sweden after a research rocket crashed on its territory.

The rocket, which was launched on Monday from the Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, northern Sweden, plunged into a mountainside in the Malselv municipality in Norway's far north, about 10km from the closest inhabited area.

The fallout is a rare public diplomatic spat between two usually close allies, and there seems to be some disagreement about recovering the wreckage.

Retrieval work was not supposed to begin without Norwegian authorisation, which had not been granted, Norway's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

But bosses at the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) said on Monday they were already working on recovering the crashed rocket.

"The crash of a rocket like this is a very serious incident that can cause serious damage," the Norwegian foreign ministry said.

"When such a border violation occurs, it is crucial that those responsible immediately inform the relevant Norwegian authorities through the proper channels.”

No one was injured and no material damage was reported. The rocket was carrying out experiments in zero gravity at an altitude of 250km.

Norway's Civil Aviation Authority said it had learnt of the crash only when the Swedish Space Corporation issued a press release on Monday.

"Norwegian authorities take any unauthorised activity on the Norwegian side of the border very seriously," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry had not received a formal notification of the incident from the Swedish authorities.

Bosses at the SSC are working on retrieving the crashed rocket.

"It landed in the mountains at 1,000m altitude, and 10km from the closest settlement," said SSC head of communications Philip Ohlsson.

There are routines in place when things go wrong and we inform both Swedish and Norwegian governments, and other actors, he said.|

"The rocket took a slightly longer and more westerly trajectory than calculated and landed after a completed flight 15 kilometres into Norway," the SSC said. "Work on retrieving the payload is underway," it added.

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.”

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed

Rating: 1/5

Norway annoyed after Swedish missile crashes in its territory

Investigation being launched to determine the technical details behind the malfunction

Dubai Bling season three