SAN FRANCISCO // Candlestick Park went dark twice in the San Francisco 49ers' much-anticipated return to prime time.
Two power outages delayed their 20-3 Monday night win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, first just before kick off and again early in the second quarter after the stadium moved to a back-up power source.
Jeff Miller, the NFL security chief, said he witnessed a transformer blow up while he was monitoring a gate outside the stadium.
A shooting during the pre-season already had put a negative light on the ageing and wind-swept venue, which has long had a reputation for being cold and dreary.
The first outage delayed the game by 20 minutes. Thousands of flashbulbs went off in the midst of the blackness, with a sellout crowd of 69,732 sitting in darkness - including the Terrible Towel-waving Steelers fans who travel the country with their team.
The second delay halted the game for about 15 minutes. Miller and other NFL officials gathered in the press box to assess the situation, remaining in contact with the commissioner's office.
Miller said he remained confident the game could be finished even using an alternative power source because the problem appeared to be outside the stadium.
"They told us that we were on the second feed, so if that feed would have been somehow interrupted then we probably wouldn't have been able to get the lights back," Miller said.
The game was San Francisco's biggest at home since their last trip to the play-offs, in January 2003, when the 49ers came from behind to stun the New York Giants 39-38 in one of the league's great comebacks.
It was the 49ers' only Monday night game this season and their final regular-season home game at Candlestick Park. The NFL certainly will want to make sure there are no problems when San Francisco hosts a home play-offs game next month as NFC West champions. Miller said he believes Candlestick can host a play-off game.
When the power went out throughout the stadium at 5.40pm (5.40am UAE), the public-address system stopped working, along with everything else. Officials encouraged media to use Twitter to reach fans and encourage them to stay in their places and not panic. An emergency light quickly came on in a far corner of the stadium.
"What happened was the lights in the lots went out," Miller said. "And about two minutes later, the transformer blew and then we lost everything, other than the emergency lights inside."
Joe Molica, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co (PG&E). said the power company was still investigating the cause of the outage.
"So far I don't know what the cause is," Molica said. "We do know that Candlestick was the only customer affected by this outage." He said multiple crews were invesitaging the outage.
Ed Lee, the San Francisco mayor, said city workers worked with PG&E officials to restore power to the stadium and he has called for an investigation "to prevent incidents such as this from happening again".
* Associated Press
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.”
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
