SAO PAULO // No coach has led more teams at World Cup finals than Carlos Alberto Parreira.
The Brazilian has taken five countries to international football’s ultimate tournament, but it is the experience he gained at his last outing, in 2010, that is proving especially beneficial this month.
Parreira, 71, led South Africa on home soil in front of an expectant crowd four years ago and while his team became the first host nation to fail to progress through the group, the insight into the added pressure that comes with playing the tournament at home has helped him prepare Brazil this month.
When, in late 2012, Luiz Felipe Scolari was announced as coach and Parreira as technical director, Brazilian media labelled the men as “two sides of a victorious coin”.
Scolari, a winner in 2002; Parreira, a winner in 1970 and 1994. Yet only in South Africa was the pressure on Brazil to win as high as it is on the hosts this month.
“I experienced it in 2010,” Parreira said. “As the home team, the whole country is behind you and supports you, but the whole country also relies on you. You have to be mentally very strong to face the pressure. You have to be prepared, which is what we now are.”
Parreira told his Brazilian players exactly what they should be ready for: inescapable expectancy. Brazil, the country that has won more titles than any other, is always a favourite, but on home soil lifting the trophy is the only form of success.
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“We have to deal with this very well. It is not easy to play at home, but I believe this team is very hungry to be the world champions,” he said.
“They are very motivated to win the World Cup because it is the first time for more than a half a century that we have played it in Brazil. We have to feel privileged and I get the impression they are dealing very well with that.”
The quality of Scolari’s squad has been questioned in recent months. Parreira first worked with Brazil as a fitness coach in 1970, before leading them to their fourth title in 1994 and coaching them to the quarter-finals in 2006. He refuses to draw comparisons with the current squad.
“I have been working with the Brazil national team for a long time. From a 1970 team that included Tostao, Pele, Carlos Alberto and Rivelino to 1994 with Branco, Romario and Bebeto and then 2006 with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo. I learnt that you do not compare players,” he said.
“OK, we no longer have a Pele, Garrincha, Zico or a Rivelino, but we still have many good players: Neymar, Fred, Paulinho, Marcelo. We play in a different style now because football is different. We have to work hard without the ball, but we still have the technique and are very good at creating chances. We are ready to play a very good World Cup.”
Parreira acknowledges that teams such as Germany, Spain, Argentina and Uruguay could pose a threat to Brazil’s bid for a sixth title, but he said success is the only option.
“We have to say we will win the World Cup. What else can we say? There is no maybe. We have to be very positive. We believe in ourselves, we have the team to do it and the support too,” he said. “We are going to win the World Cup, it is that simple.”
Brazil get the World Cup under way on Thursday when they play Croatia at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo. They also face Mexico and Cameroon in Group A.
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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.”
