Emirati lady jockey up for Melbourne challenge

ABU DHABI // Anoud Al Suwaidi, the Emirati female jockey, will take part in only her second race on Saturday in Australia.

She made her debut in the opening round of the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies World Championship in Oman on January 17, and now travels to Melbourne for the second round of the 14-race series, which culminates in Abu Dhabi on November 9.

“Australia will be one more experience for me,” Al Suwaidi, 31, said. “I have continued to work hard and looking forward with excitement for my second race ever. So fingers crossed.”

Al Suwaidi will ride Coolinda Park Dance With Me and start from Gate 5 at Caulfield racetrack in the eight-runner field that also includes two professionals, Michelle Payne of Australia, who has ridden 247 winners, and Lee Ah Na, the South Korean rider with 29 wins.

“I am trying to gather as much information as possible of the racetrack as well as the horse I ride so I can prepare as best I could,” Al Suwaidi said.

“For me it is a learning curve as I have to compete with some of the more experienced female jockeys.”

Sofia Nordgue, a former professional jockey from Sweden and now her instructor, feels Al Suwaidi should receive the same weight allowance an apprentice enjoys in flat racing.

“It is also a more difficult task for her because she has to ride a different horse and ride on a different track in every race she competes,” said Nordgue. “Basically she has to ride a horse that she hasn’t seen a day or two before the race and handle a racetrack you have never ridden before.”

Al Suwaidi has been working for over a year with Eric Lemartinel, the Frenchman who trains at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, and for the Emirati Majed Al Jahouri at the Al Wathba Stables.

The second race of the series carries a purse of €30,000 (Dh150,530), the highest for a Purebred Arabian race for ladies.

The race meeting in Australia will include two races for Arabians, the ladies race and the first round of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup, an open race for a purse of €35,000.

apassela@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.”

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

The specs: Fenyr SuperSport

Price, base: Dh5.1 million

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm

Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Emirati minister Sarah Al Amiri named in BBC's top 100 women of 2020