Money certainly does not buy you happiness, or so Keanu Reeves's first offering to the literary world would have us believe.
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Last Updated: 20 June, 2011 UAE
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The guaranteed easy read contains just one line of a poem per page, with equally eyebrow raising ink illustrations by the LA artist Alexandra Grant. Reeves clearly finds writing a cleansing process, describing how he draws a "hot sorrow bath" and uses "regret shampoo…pain soap" and "I hate myself face cream".
But wait, this has to be a joke right? Well yes, sort of. For despite the reputation for gloominess Reeves has acquired in recent years, this book was apparently written to poke fun at his self-pitying friends. Let's hope a disclaimer somehow finds its way inside the hand-stitched cover before legions of Reeves fans buy the book to lift him out of his supposed despair. Fans of unusual celebrity literary projects will also have been delighted by the news last week that the rapper 50 Cent is to write a young-adult novel about bullying called Playground, which will be published in January.
The artist drew upon his own violent childhood to write the novel, about a reformed 13-year-old bully and is keen for it to have a "positive influence on all teenagers". It's not Fiddy's first literary endeavour - in 2007, he launched G-Unit Books, designed to publish a series of novellas and graphic novels about ghetto life, and he co-wrote one of the titles, The Ski-Mask Way.
He has also written a memoir, From Pieces to Weight, and even a self-help guide called The 50th Law, co-written with Robert Greene. It is debatable, however, whether it is wise to take tips from the man whose most famous piece of advice is: "Get rich or die trying." Wise words, Fiddy, wise words.
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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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