John Terry gatecrashing big-stage celebrations has become a hugely popular internet meme — but if there were ever a trophy party he could justifiably intrude on it might come on Saturday.
Chelsea Ladies had seen their budget cut in 2009 and looked set for difficult times ahead until Terry, having heard of their predicament, approached the team’s then captain Casey Stoney with the offer of assistance.
It came in the form of unexpected funding from the Premier League pockets of men’s first-team captain Terry and a number of his fellow players.
Terry became and to this day remains club president of Chelsea Ladies, who play Notts County on Saturday in the first SSE Women’s FA Cup final to be staged at Wembley.
Success has not come quickly for Chelsea Ladies since Terry and teammates rode to their rescue, but the club are again investing heavily on the women’s side.
Slowly, surely, the faith of the man who along with Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich embodies modern-day Chelsea is being rewarded.
Chelsea Ladies vice-captain Gilly Flaherty was an Arsenal player when the financial intervention came from Terry.
“He got hold of some money and saved the women’s team,” Flaherty said.
“Since then we’ve had preseason friendlies at Cobham and he comes down to watch.”
The former England captain’s celebration in full kit after missing Chelsea’s 2012 Uefa Champions League triumph through suspension was widely lampooned. His image has been superimposed on pictures ever since, from sporting successes to Barack Obama’s election-night success and the famous Oscars selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres.
Chelsea Ladies are simply proud of, and inspired by, their one-time benefactor.
“He’s our president and if you want players from the men’s team to recognise us and appreciate what we do, I believe we have to be successful,” Flaherty said.
“Everyone at Arsenal knew about Arsenal Ladies because we won more trophies than the Arsenal men’s team, and that’s what we have to instil.
“The mentality of Chelsea is that they’re winners. We need to bring success to this club to show we are good enough. It’s only a matter of time before we start bringing silverware to the club.
“They bend over backwards for us. We’ve got to thank our chairman, Bruce Buck. All they want, the people higher up, is trophies and for us to do well. That’s our responsibility.”
Flaherty, 23, has been tipped to break through to the England squad but remains just outside its fringes.
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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.”
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