Coach Dutt lauds DPS character for title triumph

SHARJAH // Vikram Dutt, the coach of the Delhi Private School (DPS), Sharjah, saluted the character of his team as they beat both the heat and the Modern High School, Dubai to win the Sharjah Cricket Council Under 16 Inter-School title yesterday. Aagam Shah was the star of the show for the champions, providing two crucial blows in a single over to turn the tide in DPS's favour. After scoring a quick-fire 18 to help his side post a total of 108, the left-arm spinner took the wickets of Shorye Chopra, the tournament's top-scorer, and Abhishek Dhar, the Modern captain, in the 15th over to wreck the Dubai school's run-chase.

Modern had been cruising until then, with 72 on the board after 14 overs and six wickets in hand. But Shah's bowling changed the game and when Vishal Bali was run-out with a direct throw from Aniket Rodrigues, the DPS wicketkeeper, it completed an 11-run win for DPS. "This is a reward for all the hard work we have put in," said Dutt, who has guided DPS Sharjah to three titles this season, the Maxtalent Inter-school, the SCC girls' Inter-school and now this latest success to cap a great campaign.

"It is dedication, motivation and sticking to the basics. We knew we had not done well with the bat and I told the boys to try their best in the field now. They did just that." Shah was adjudged man of the match for his all-round show and Siddharth Sekhar, his teammate, was picked as the player of the tournament for his 222 runs and eight wickets. Modern High School's Varun Totadri was the best bowler of the tournament with 14 wickets, while Chopra took the individual honours in batting for his 265 runs, which included an unbeaten 123 in the semi-finals.

"I am happy to be scoring runs," said Chopra, who made 37 yesterday. "But when it mattered the most, in the final here, I could not finish the game." @Email:arizvi@thenational.ae

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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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