Paris Saint-Germain will look to underline their superiority over the rest of Ligue 1 with a win when they play host to Nantes at the Parc des Princes on Sunday night.
Laurent Blanc’s side come into the weekend five points clear of Monaco at the summit and with confidence high after a clinical 3-1 win away to Bordeaux in the quarter-finals of the League Cup in midweek.
The capital outfit have been beaten just once - a 2-0 reverse at Evian last month - in domestic competition all season, and remain on course to win a domestic treble.
Tuesday’s win against Bordeaux set up a League Cup semi-final away to Nantes at the Stade de le Beaujoire in early February, but it is at the Parc des Princes where the teams meet this weekend.
Les Canaris are enjoying a fine campaign themselves and lie in sixth place coming into the weekend but PSG are unbeaten in front of their own fans since November 2012, so anything other than a home win would be a huge surprise.
Blanc had the luxury of rotating his squad at Bordeaux, while Ligue 1 top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic only played the first 45 minutes.
The coach was delighted with the performances of fringe players such as Javier Pastore, who scored one goal and set up another at the Stade Chaban-Delmas.
“I was satisfied with individual performances but especially the collective performance,” said Blanc.
“We are playing on all fronts and we don’t have any serious injury concerns or suspension worries over yellow cards, but we are still a long way from the ‘Grand Slam’,” he continued, with PSG also looking forward to a Champions League last-16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen next month.
Monaco are also in action on Sunday, when they travel to face Toulouse looking for a first win in three Ligue 1 outings, while Lille will be looking to bounce back from an unexpected 2-1 home reverse against Reims when they go to Saint-Etienne on Friday.
The match at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is crucial for both clubs, with Saint-Etienne knowing a win will allow them to close to within three points of the podium and a Champions League qualifying berth.
Les Verts are unbeaten in four league games but were sensationally dumped out of the French Cup in midweek, losing on penalties to fourth-tier Cannes.
“I was really down that night after being knocked out. But now the most important thing is the game against Lille,” said Saint-Etienne coach Christophe Galtier, who welcomes back goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier after a ban as well as defender Kurt Zouma, who has missed the last ten games suspended after a red card for breaking the leg of a Sochaux player in November.
“We need to roll our sleeves up and get back to work. Now we will only have one game per week so we will have time to work well and fine-tune our plans.”
Elsewhere, Marseille entertain an improving Valenciennes, who have won their last two league games, while Reims host Lyon in an intriguing encounter at the Stade Auguste-Delaune.
OL continued their good recent form by beating Marseille 2-1 in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday but they are four points adrift of Reims in the league table and the club from Champagne country are in great shape just now under Hubert Fournier, the former Lyon defender.
At the foot of the table, Ajaccio and Sochaux have been cut adrift and must turn things around quickly or face the prospect of Ligue 2 football next season.
The Corsican club are nine points from safety as they travel to Nice while Herve Renard’s Sochaux side are seven points below the relegation zone and in desperate need of maximum points at home to fourth-from-bottom Montpellier.
Elsewhere, Bastia host Bordeaux, Lorient host Breton rivals Guingamp and Rennes meet Evian.
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
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.”
More from UAE Human Development Report:
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.
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Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
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Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
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Quarter-finals
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England v Australia, 11.15am
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