DP World will wind down its management of Abu Dhabi's Mina Zayed port in January following the end of its five-year contract, says the Dubai ports operator.
Mina Zayed, the capital's primary port, will now be managed by Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), the two companies said yesterday.
The port is scheduled to be redeveloped once the emirate's marine activities are relocated to the new Khalifa Port in Taweelah, near the border with Dubai.
It is still unclear which company will manage the new Khalifa port, which is being developed by ADT's parent company, Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), and is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2012. "We are proud of our achievements at Mina Zayed and our success in supporting our colleagues in Abu Dhabi to bring Mina Zayed in line with global standards of operations and service," said Mohammed al Muallem, the UAE managing director of DP World.
Tawfiq al Mubarak, the chairman of ADT, said managing Mina Zayed would help the company to develop its operational expertise.
"Our management team will continue to work closely with DP World to ensure a smooth transition," he said.
DP World is the world's third-largest ports operator, with some 50 terminals under management internationally. The mainstay of its UAE business is Jebel Ali port in Dubai, although it also manages operations at Fujairah port.
"The [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] contribution from the management agreement is not material" as the five-year contract to manage Mina Zayed ends, the government-controlled company said in a statement to NASDAQ Dubai yesterday.
This month, DP World announced it had agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in its Australian unit, which operates terminals at five ports in the country, to Citi Infrastructure Investors and a partner for A$1.5 billion (Dh5.59bn).
This year, ADPC said Khalifa Port would have an initial capacity to handle two million TEU's (20-foot equivalent unit containers) when its first phase of development was completed in 2012, and that by 2030 capacity would rise to 15 million TEU's.
Khalifa Port will be located offshore and connected by causeways to the mainland, where it will link with an industrial zone spanning 51 square kilometres in its first phase of development, costing Dh26.5bn (Dh7.21bn).
By 2030, the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) is planned to have created 150,000 jobs and be contributing 15 per cent of the emirate's non-oil GDP, according to officials.
Last month, ADPC announced it had received approval to make KIZAD the first industrial free zone in the capital, with 100 per cent ownership available to foreign investors.
With the emirate's industrial and marine focus switching to KIZAD, Mina Zayed is expected to be redeveloped into residential and commercial space by local developers including Aldar.
* with Bloomberg
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The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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 TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
