London-born, half-Dutch, half-Danish Bob Boersen is more than six feet tall, is dressed daily in tailored cuff-linked shirts, the fabrics and designs for which he chooses personally, and "handsome" is a word regularly used to describe him. As facilities manager for Sama Dubai, his gregarious, confident and occasionally flamboyant character must come in handy. Yet there is a peculiarly practical side to him.
Take the car he drives: a five-year-old Kia Sorento. It is not the most glamorous of vehicles but ideally suited to his adventurous, outgoing character.
"I bought the Kia Sorento because I had the desire to explore the country," says 34 year-old Boerson, "which meant the sand dunes and wadis, and for that you require a four-wheel drive."
He only bought the Kia after two years of renting Peugeots and VWs when he first moved to Dubai to work as a food and beverage manager. But it was the draw of the UAE heartland which finally convinced him to pay the Dh68,000 for the five-month-old off-roader. "It had about 15,000 kilometres on the clock. Now it's got 140,000," he adds.
"Knowing my main reason for getting the car was for off-roading and wadi-bashing, I went for something which isn't expensive to maintain. Korean parts are cheaper than if you go for a VW, for example, or an American brand."
Boerson has spent Dh12,000 on major repairs to the car now known as the "Bobmobile"', complete with "Bob" nameplates on the front and rear of the vehicle.
"Having blown up two cylinders and having them replaced, I basically have a new engine," he comments. Apart from the cylinder incident which he admits was his fault, he says his Kia has never let him down throughout his exploration of the region behind the wheel. "I've taken it off road a lot; into the wadis, mainly - Al Ain, Musandam, Wadi Bih, into Oman down to Ras al Jinz. It's seen its fair share of off-roading," he smiles.
Boerson believes that if you buy an SUV and don't use it for its proper purpose, when you do decide to take it off-road it won't be able to handle it. He admits it's just a theory but he sticks by it. "I drive over speed bumps without braking, I drive over sandy bits onto the beach, through the salt water; you name it. Everything you shouldn't do, I do - and the car has been a good servant for five years."
He has no desire to change it either. "I will keep it until it doesn't move anymore. My favourite aspect of the car is that I don't feel as though I have to be careful with it."
When asked what life would be like after the Bobmobile, he answers reluctantly: "If I'm still in Dubai I think I'd go for the Range Rover. Not the Sport, because however big it looks on the outside, on the inside it feels like a kart. My knees are up against the dashboard, my head hits the roof, I just don't fit inside."
It's not an issue most of us have to consider when purchasing a vehicle, but more than two metres tall, Boerson can't fit comfortably in to every car. But surprisingly, his fiancée Evelyn owns a Porsche Boxster which is perfectly able to accommodate him: "I can drive that - German people are tall, so German cars have a bit more space for the legs. It has more space than a Jeep Wrangler for me." So his current favourite - the Fiat 500 - might just require a little adaptation.
Fortunately, there are years of life left in the Sorento, with plenty of experiences to add to the Bobmobile album next to the RTA parking ticket where beside "Brand of Car" the officer wrote "Bob", and the substantial dent in the rear bumper from the collision with a bus that changed lanes without looking. "I don't intend to fix it - it's one of the wounds of battle," he comments.
And now we're on to Dubai driving, Boerson is on a roll. "People say it's hard to get your licence in Dubai. I don't understand it because, to me, it seems like Dubai is the easiest place. If the only thing you learn is parallel parking and your U-turns on Al Wasl Road, you've not done highway driving, night driving, driving in the wet, hill starts - you're basically missing 75 per cent of the skills you need to drive properly."
"I'm a very engaged driver," he continues, "and I think that has to do with the driving lessons back home. On the test, suddenly the examiner would flip up your rear-view mirror and ask 'what is the second car behind you?' And if you couldn't answer, you'd get minus points. It's not just watching the tail lights of the car in front of you. Driving is constantly being aware of your 360 environment."
Boerson also has a dream to start a car collection. "Jay Leno is my role model with his garage full of cars. I will get there one day," he smiles. "The bashed-up Kia Sorento gets parking space number one and I've asked my Dad to ship over my old buggy I had as a kid and that can go in number two."
motoring@thenational.ae
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt
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
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.”
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
