Golf

Big win for home hope Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson, the Swede, sinks a 30ft birdie putt on the final green to become only the second home winner of the Scandinavian Masters in the last 12 years.

Richard Johnson, the Swede, sank a 30ft birdie putt on the final green to become only the second home winner of the Scandinavian Masters in the last 12 years yesterday. With a play-off looming against Argentina's Rafa Echenique, the 33-year-old looked to have played safe with his approach to the 407-yard last at Bro Hof Slott near Stockholm. But months of putting woes in America - he is now based there, but has not had a single top-30 finish since February - were forgotten as he took his second European Tour title eight years after his first.

Johnson, whose regular caddie Lance Ten Broeck went and played in the British Senior Open instead and missed the cut, earned £223,689 (Dh1.267million) after a closing 71 gave him an 11-under-par total of 277. Johnson held the joint overnight lead with KJ Choi but the South Korean dropped out of contention by carding a 78. "It's one of the sweetest things I've ever done," Johnson said. "Just to come up the 17th and 18th is magical. This is a huge tournament to win for a Swede and I'm speechless right now. It's epic."

Italian Edoardo Molinari, winner of the Scottish Open two weeks ago, took another step towards a Ryder Cup debut - possibly alongside Francesco, his brother - by finishing third thanks to a 20ft last putt. That left Louis Oosthuizen, the British Open champion, in a tie for fourth with Australian Brett Rumford and New Zealander Mark Brown. "I didn't play well," said Oosthuizen after his 73. "I didn't drive well and it put everything under pressure. I had to push it at the end, but Richard played brilliantly. I'm a bit disappointed, but after last week I was hoping to make the cut and I finished fourth, so I'm happy."

He now heads back home for a week off and a party at his home club to celebrate his major victory. Bernhard Langer won the Senior British Open after surviving a final round chase by Corey Pavin. The German shot a 1-over 72 yesterday to finish at a five under 279 at Carnoustie - one stroke ahead of Pavin, the American, who shot a one under 70. Pavin, the American Ryder Cup captain, trailed by three shots at the start of the fourth round but cut the gap to two when he birdied his second hole of the day.

Langer survived three-putting both the 8th and 9th greens. After making birdie at 15, he parred his way to victory. * Agencies

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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.

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“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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