Route to the Champions League final: Barcelona

Barcelona's matches en route to the Champions League final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin where they face Juventus on Saturday:

Group Phase - Group F

September 17: Home v Apoel Nicosia; Win 1-0; Pique 28

September 30: Away at Paris Saint-Germain; Lose 2-3; Messi 12, Neymar 56

October 21: Home v Ajax; Win 3-1; Neymar 7, Messi 24, Sandro 90+4

November 5: Away at Ajax; Win 2-0; Messi 36, 76

November 25: Away at Apoel Nicosia; Win 4-0; Suarez 27, Messi 38, 58, 87

December 10: Home v Paris Saint-Germain; Win 3-1; Messi 19, Neymar 42, Suarez 77

Group F – Final positions

Barcelona – 5W, 0D, 1L, 15 for 5 against; 15 pts

Paris Saint-Germain – 4W, 1D, 1 L, 10 for 7 against; 13 pts

Ajax – 1W, 2D, 3L, 8 for 10 against; 5 pts

Apoel Nicosia – 0W, 1 D, 5L, 1 for 12 against; 1 pt

Round of 16

February 24: Away at Manchester City; Win 2-1; Suarez 16, 30

March 18: Home v Manchester City; Win 1-0; Rakitic 31

Aggregate Win 3-1

Quarter-final

April 15: Away at Paris Saint-Germain; Win 3-1; Neymar 18, Suarez 67, 79

April 21: Home v Paris Saint-Germain; Win 2-0; Neymar 14, 34

Aggregate Win 5-1

Semi-final

May 6: Home v Bayern Munich; Win 3-0; Messi 77, 80, Neymar 90+4

May 12: Away at Bayern Munich; Lose 2-3; Neymar 15, 29

Aggregate Win 5-3

Scorers (28): Lionel Messi 10, Neymar 9, Luis Suarez 6, Gerard Pique 1, Sandro 1, Ivan Rakitic 1

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Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

The biog

From: Ras Al Khaimah

Age: 50

Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years

Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'

Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

Guide to intelligent investing

Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:

Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: HyperSpace

Started: 2020

Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Entertainment

Number of staff: 210

Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners

Company%20Profile

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Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry

Rating: 2/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar

Based: Dubai, UAE

Founded: 2014

Number of employees: 36

Sector: Logistics

Raised: $2.5 million

Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE

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.”