Decision day has arrived for the British and Irish Lions with coaches locked away in what many had considered to be a predictable selection meeting for the first test against the All Blacks on Saturday.
Assistant Graham Rowntree admitted the process was far from straightforward, however, saying the discussions would be among the hardest they had faced so far after the entire squad were displaying signs of reaching their peak on the 10-match tour.
"Picking the squad every week has been tough," he told reporters in Auckland on Wednesday, a day after the supposed second-string side produced a clinical effort to dismiss the Waikato Chiefs 34-6.
"It is going to be even tougher. A few guys put their hands up last night. That will not be ignored, it will be taken under consideration," the former England prop added.
"We have got a real challenge, it was always going to be a big debate because the quality of the squad is such, last night quite a few of them put their hands up."
Until Tuesday's match, the opening test side had been expected to have been drawn principally from the players who first beat the seven-time Super Rugby champion Canterbury Crusaders 12-3 then the Maori All Blacks 32-10 on Saturday.
None were selected for the Chiefs game in Hamilton.
Head coach Warren Gatland, however, has repeated the mantra that those who missed out on the first test at Eden Park, could still press for inclusion later in the series due to injury, a drop in form or combinations not working as well as envisaged.
Liam Williams and Ireland loose forward CJ Stander both stood out on Tuesday with the Wales fullback producing the kind of attacking flair that had been missing in the Lions' previous five games. Both could earn a spot on the bench.
Despite the travails of finalising their own side, Rowntree said the All Blacks were probably facing an even bigger selection headache, particularly in the forwards, where the Lions have started to impress.
"They are an honest team, an efficient honest forward pack and we have got our hands full," Rowntree added.
"You saw the challenges we had at scrum time in Otago, against the Crusaders as well against an All Blacks front five, but the guys have learned and are adapting well.
"Those challenges, those encounters are what we need to be able to learn and step up a gear for this pack at the weekend which as I said, I think is the best in the world."
* Reuters
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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.”
