When veteran Tom Brady and the New England Patriots visit Andrew Luck and the rising Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night, any passing-of-the-torch descriptions of the two quarterbacks should be ignored.
It appears that, in the eyes of Brady at least, the torch has already been passed.
Brady has a few Super Bowl rings and has been one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL for the past decade.
After just three years in the league, though, Luck is putting up some staggering numbers.
The Colts (6-3) are averaging a league-best 32.2 points per game and Luck has thrown for 3,085 yards through nine games. That puts Luck on pace to finish the season with 5,484 passing yards, which would break Peyton Manning’s year-old record of 5,477 yards in a season.
These are numbers Brady and the Patriots (7-2) cannot ignore.
This week, Brady heaped praise on the young Colts quarterback, which is not unusual, and he was effusive in that praise, suggesting to ESPNBoston.com the younger man is the better player.
Luck, he said, “is a great player, in his third year, and he’s had a lot of success ... Their offence is doing a great job this year. They score a lot of points, especially at home. He’s kind of the ringleader. He does a lot of things I wish I could do.”
Asked to elaborate, Brady, 37, made it clear the respect he had for his counterpart, who is 25.
“He’s big, fast, shrugs off blockers. He makes a lot of extended plays,” Brady said. “He’s a great passer. I think they’ve thrown for more yards at this point in the year than any other team in history. It speaks to what they’re doing offensively and it’s a great challenge for our defence.
“My focus is on the other side of the ball, but you also know you’re not going to be able to score 13 points and win the game.”
The good news is that the Patriots are averaging 40.2 points per game during their current five-game win streak, so getting past 13 should not be a problem.
Getting on the scoreboard early will be key as Indianapolis have given up an NFL-low 13 points in the first quarter this season, and that has helped them take leads.
If Brady can strike quickly and the New England defence can, somehow, contain the Colts’ aerial attack – Luck threw the ball 46 times during their 40-24 win over the New York Giants last week – then the Patriots have a good chance.
The proverbial torch may have been passed to a younger generation but, with a win tonight, Brady can again prove his fire is far from extinguished.
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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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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
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