Al Ahli's fall from grace proves nothing is certain

In the roller-coaster world of football fortunes, nothing remains permanent. The Pro League champions, Al Ahli, are realising the success of one season does not necessarily guarantee more in the following season. Plagued by injuries, they lost the Super Cup to Al Ain in the season-opener between the league champions and the President's Cup winners. Ahli managed just four points from their first five league games and their Romanian coach, Ioan Andone, was promptly shown the door. The team's fortunes have not changed much under the Emirati Mahdi Ali, who took charge in early November.

Ahli are on 11 points and eighth in the league table and they failed to go beyond the first round of the Club World Cub in Abu Dhabi. Andone is one of the five coaches fired so far this season. Al Shabab (ninth on 10 points) sacked Toninho Cerezo and replaced him with Abdul Wahab Abdul Qadir. Ze Mario was booted out by Ajman, who are still looking for their first points. The biggest shock, however, was the demise of the German Winfried Schaefer, who was fired from Al Ain when his team were still third in the league.

The game's first professional season saw 12 coaches sacked. Schaefer and Cerezo, who survived that season, have lost their jobs since, leaving the Al Jazira coach Abel Braga as the only survivor in the Pro League. Jazira will start with a healthy four-point lead in the New Year, dreaming of their first league title and, with it, a berth as the host nation's representative at the Club World Cup in December 2010.

Fans are hoping a team from the Club World Cup host city will win the league, and that looks a good probability with Jazira, Al Wahda, Ain and Baniyas occupying the top-four slots close to the half-way mark. The Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, one of the two venues of the Fifa showpiece event, is the home ground of Jazira. Jazira are the only team to remain unbeaten in all competitions and they have maintained their four-point lead over neighbours Wahda.

Jazira have come close to winning the league in the last two seasons, and may be third time lucky. They were runners-up to Al Shabab and Al Ahli, and prior to that, were third three times. And they seem on course for the coveted title and a ticket to the Club World Cup. @Email:apassela@thenational.ae

Company%20profile

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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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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

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5