Monika Debowski, the co-founder of Glambox, packs boxes at their offices in Jumeirah Lake Towers. Razan Alzayani / The National
Monika Debowski, the co-founder of Glambox, packs boxes at their offices in Jumeirah Lake Towers. Razan Alzayani / The National

Five things to do today: sign up for Glambox or visit King Croc

Also, visit the exhibition Ireland Art Month, which features works by five Irish artists who spent one month as artists-in-residence at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub.

Ellen Fortini

June 24, 2014

Sign up for GlamBox, the monthly beauty products subscription service, and this Ramadan you can choose to gift yourself with brushes and accessories, or a friend with a subscription gift voucher, or choose to give to the community and when you buy any subscription, GlamBox will donate 20 per cent of proceeds to a women's charity. From Dh239 for a three-month subscription, www.glambox.me

See the exhibition Ireland Art Month, which features works by five Irish artists who spent one month as artists-in-residence at Art Hub, plus a guest artist and two solo exhibitors, including Mohsen Keiany, whose The Heath of Desert image is featured above. From 9am-8pm, Abu Dhabi Art Hub, Plot 38 MW5, Mussaffah, Abu Dhabi, 02 551 5005, www.adah.ae

Sign up for take part in play-reading sessions with Resuscitation Theatre, where you can explore new plays by the award-winning Emirati playwright Saleh Karama with both readings and practical work. June 25-August 13, 8-10pm on Wednesdays, 7.30pm-9.30pm, Dh50 per session, Emirates Writers Union Auditorium, National Theatre, off 15th Street between 2nd and 4th streets, Abu Dhabi, registration essential at www.resuscitationtheatre.com

Attend the pop-up cinema with The Third Line in collaboration with Cinema Akil and enjoy a screening of the Spanish-language film No by the director Pablo Larrain, which tells the story of Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal), an advertising executive who campaigns against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1988. At 7.30pm, free entry, Al Quoz 3, Dubai, 04 341 1367, www.thethirdline.com

Visit King Croc, the 5-metre long and 750-kg crocodile and his female companion of 20 years in a special enclosure at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo. Coming from a farm in Australia, the crocs have been transferred to Dubai as part of a dedicated educational programme on crocs for schools. From 10am-10pm, The Dubai Mall, www.thedubaiaquarium.com

listings@thenational.ae

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.”

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

RESULTS

Men
1 Marius Kipserem (KEN) 2:04:04
2 Abraham Kiptum (KEN) 2:04:16
3 Dejene Debela Gonfra (ETH) 2:07:06
4 Thomas Rono (KEN) 2:07:12
5 Stanley Biwott (KEN) 2:09:18

Women
1 Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:20:16
2 Eunice Chumba (BRN) 2:20:54
3 Gelete Burka (ETH) 2:24:07
4 Chaltu Tafa (ETH) 2:25:09
5 Caroline Kilel (KEN) 2:29:14