Baniyas coach Luis Garcia insists his team is ready to take on Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final. Delores Johnson / The National
Baniyas coach Luis Garcia insists his team is ready to take on Al Nasr in the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final. Delores Johnson / The National

Sport

Arabian Gulf Cup gives league outsiders a shot at silverware

The Arabian Gulf Cup has given four teams with only slim league title ambitions a realistic chance of a trophy as the tournament enters the semi-final stage on Friday night.

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

January 16, 2015

The Arabian Gulf Cup has given four teams with only slim league title ambitions a realistic chance of a trophy as the tournament enters the semi-final stage on Friday.

Sharjah, the Group A winners, are at home to Al Shabab in the opening semi-final at 5.05pm while Al Nasr host Baniyas at 8pm at the Al Maktoum stadium in Dubai.

Luis Garcia, the Baniyas coach, said his team are ready for the challenge of a tough away trip.

“In this type of game the team that is able to score first will have the edge, so we will try to hit Al Nasr with an early goal,” said the Spaniard.

“They are good at controlling play, so we will need to close the gaps and put pressure on them.

“If the game were to go to a penalty shootout, we are ready for that and have worked on all possible scenarios in training.”

Amer Abdulrahman and Haboush Saleh who are on national duty at the Asian Games in Australia will be missing for Baniyas but Garcia is confident of their chances without them.

“We have played all our cup games without them so it’s not an issue for us, although we would like to have all players available,” he said.

“I hope we can give the fans something to cheer about. They deserve it and I don’t need to call on them to support the team because they have always been behind us.”

Meanwhile, Manuel Cajuda returns to the Arabian Gulf League as the veteran Portuguese takes over at Ajman from the Tunisian Fetthi Al Jabal for the second half of the season.

Cajuda was previously in charge of Sharjah from 2009 to 2011. He has more than 30 years experience as a manager, including spells at the Portuguese club Braga, Zamalek of Egypt, and his past two jobs at China’s Chongqing and Tianjin Songjiang.

Ajman are second last in the Arabian Gulf League table on nine points, five ahead of bottom team Kalba.

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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.

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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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