Zahra Lari. Courtesy Zayed Sports City
Zahra Lari. Courtesy Zayed Sports City

‘I play Steven Tyler. It’s a very interesting costume’ Ann Marie Mcqueen talks to the Emirati figure skater Zahra Lari ahead of the Abu Dhabi Figure Skating Team’s show this weekend at Zayed Sports City

We talk to the Emirati figure skater Zahr Lari ahead of her show with the Abu Dhabi Figure Skating Team at Zayed Sports City Ice Rink this weekend.

Zahra Lari is used to dressing up for her figure-skating performances – but this weekend one of her outfits will be a little more outrageous than normal.

The first Emirati to compete internationally in the sport, Lari will lead 50 skaters of all ages in the Abu Dhabi Figure Skating Team’s annual gala, a reality show parody called The Ice ­Factor this weekend.

“I play Steven Tyler [the Aerosmith frontman],” she says. “It’s a very interesting costume.” Lari will go on to perform in six numbers during the show at Zayed Sports City Ice Rink tomorrow night and Saturday night.

The 18-year-old is a first-year student at Abu Dhabi University, where she is studying environmental health and safety. And although she is still recovering from spraining a ligament in her back over the summer, which meant she had to cancel all competition plans for the rest of the year, she will be back in the new year starting with the New Year’s Cup in Slovakia, from January 3 to 6.

She has a new coach – the Hungarian Zsolt Kerekes, who steered the Dutch skater Manouk Gijsman to her national title in 2009 – and is working on mastering more difficult spins, intricate footwork and her first two triple jumps, the the salchow and toe-loop.

With a more flexible university schedule, it’s been easier to fit in two to four hours of daily training, meaning no more 4.30am rink sessions before classes.

Lari, who began skating when she was 11, believes the attention she’s received in recent years is boosting the sport’s popularity.

“Since I’ve started and more people know about it, we’ve had more locals joining the team,” she says.

• Tickets for The Ice Factor start from Dh50 and can be bought in advance from www.ticketmaster.ae and on the door at Zayed Sports City Ice Rink

Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition

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.”