Bon voyage to Khalaf Al Habtoor on his trip to the US, and congratulations to Illinois College, which will be better off to the tune of $600,000 when he returns to the UAE.
More important, the small liberal arts college will have a brand new archive and full supporting research facilities as a result of Mr Al Habtoor’s generosity. No wonder Barbara Farley, president of the college, was so enthusiastic in her thanks to him.
“I am enormously grateful for Mr Al Habtoor’s great commitment and loyalty to Illinois College. This is a wonderful gift for IC and a testament to the college’s remarkable place in history. We look forward to welcoming Dr Al Habtoor,” she said.
The Khalaf Al Habtoor Archives will be formally opened at a ceremony next week while he is on a visit to the campus.
The event puts the seal on a 25-year relationship between Mr Al Habtoor, one of the grandees of the UAE business establishment, and Illinois College. How the two got together in the first place is an interesting story, with relevance to US-UAE relations in the present day.
In his autobiography, Mr Al Habtoor describes how, back in 1989, he was introduced to Paul Findley, who represented Illinois in US Congress for many years and had graduated from the college in 1943.
Mr Findley had been highly critical in print of the power of the Israeli lobby in Washington, which he said was a “suffocating influence” in American politics that prevented an open discussion of the Middle East’s problems.
Mr Al Habtoor invited the congressman to a dinner at the old Metropolitan hotel in Dubai (sadly no longer there, but being reconstructed into a brand new hotels-and-leisure complex). Mr Findley was one of a list of VIPs from the UN and the diplomatic world, as well as prominent thinkers and businessmen, who discussed regional issues that evening, and Mr Al Habtoor was impressed.
“I was so sorry that I had asked him to restrict his talk to no more than five minutes,” Mr Al Habtoor later wrote.
That dinner led to an enduring friendship that has extended to the two men’s wives and families.
In 2010, Mr Al Habtoor flew to Illinois to address graduating students, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the college, as well as membership of the exclusive Phi Alpha Literary Society.
In addition to his friend Mr Findley, another notable member of Phi Alpha was Abraham Lincoln, the assassinated president of the US, and “one of the historical figures I most admire”, Mr Al Habtoor wrote. Some of the Al Habtoor Archive will house documents relating to the late president.
Mr Al Habtoor will visit other parts of the US on this trip, from Georgia to Texas, and is likely to meet up with another old friend and former president, Jimmy Carter.
“It’s a great opportunity for Americans to see another side of the UAE and the Gulf,” says an aide to Mr Al Habtoor. “He is not afraid to give his opinion on issues of the day, and it will be good for them to hear it from somebody like him, with all his experience of the region and of world affairs.”
It’s not currently known whether Mr Al Habtoor’s trip will extend to Washington, DC, but if it does, I sincerely hope he bumps into the vice president Joe Biden.
fkane@thenational.ae
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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.”
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
liverpool youngsters
Ki-Jana Hoever
The only one of this squad to have scored for Liverpool, the versatile Dutchman impressed on his debut at Wolves in January. He can play right-back, centre-back or in midfield.
Herbie Kane
Not the most prominent H Kane in English football but a 21-year-old Bristolian who had a fine season on loan at Doncaster last year. He is an all-action midfielder.
Luis Longstaff
Signed from Newcastle but no relation to United’s brothers Sean and Matty, Luis is a winger. An England Under-16 international, he helped Liverpool win the FA Youth Cup last season.
Yasser Larouci
An 18-year-old Algerian-born winger who can also play as a left-back, Larouci did well on Liverpool’s pre-season tour until an awful tackle by a Sevilla player injured him.
Adam Lewis
Steven Gerrard is a fan of his fellow Scouser, who has been on Liverpool’s books since he was in the Under-6s, Lewis was a midfielder, but has been converted into a left-back.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
LIGUE 1 FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Nice v Angers (9pm)
Lille v Monaco (10.45pm)
Saturday
Montpellier v Paris Saint-Germain (7pm)
Bordeaux v Guingamp (10pm)
Caen v Amiens (10pm)
Lyon v Dijon (10pm)
Metz v Troyes (10pm)
Sunday
Saint-Etienne v Rennes (5pm)
Strasbourg v Nantes (7pm)
Marseille v Toulouse (11pm)
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now