Al Sadd's Hassan Al Haidos, gets tripped up by Al Ahli's Abdul Aziz Sanqour during their Asian Champions League Group D match at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on April 22, 2014. It was Ahli that was upended as Sadd's 2-1 ended the Arabian Gulf League club's ACL adventure. Karim Jaafar / AFP
Al Sadd's Hassan Al Haidos, gets tripped up by Al Ahli's Abdul Aziz Sanqour during their Asian Champions League Group D match at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on April 22, 2014. It was Ahli thaShow more

Sport

History boys Al Ahli fail their continental exam against Al Sadd

Al Ahli, the recently crowned Arabian Gulf League champions and new Arabian Gulf Cup holders, were bidding to play the role of history boys on the continent, too, but failed at the final hurdle in Qatar against Al Sadd.

John McAuley
John McAuley

April 23, 2014

AL SADD 2 AL AHLI 1

Al Sadd - Ibrahim 34', Tabata 79'

Al Ahli - Grafite 15'

Man of the Match - Khalfan Ibrahim (Al Sadd)

The first crack appeared in Al Ahli's 2014 season and it proved enough to wreck their Asian Champions League dream.

The recently crowned UAE champions and new Arabian Gulf Cup holders, two thirds of the way to an unprecedented domestic treble, were bidding to play the role of history boys on the continent, too, but failed at the final hurdle in Qatar won Tuesday night.

Requiring at least a draw to progress to the knockout stages for the first time, Ahli simply could not get the job done, defeated 2-1 by Al Sadd at the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.

The result, coupled with Al Hilal’s 1-0 victory against Sepahan, caused Ahli to slip from first in Group D to third, which ultimately was not enough.

It seemed set to be so different when Ahli were provided the best possible start as Grafite swept home Ciel’s cross on 14 minutes. It was the Brazilian’s third goal of his debut campaign on the continent.

Parity was restored 11 minutes before half time, though, with Sadd’s Khalfan Ibrahim, the live-wire striker, capitalising on Basheer Saeed’s mistake to offer the hosts renewed hope.

Sadd knew three points would see them survive in the competition at Ahli’s expense and they got the job done on 79 minutes. Rodrigo Tabata registered what would be the winner, drilling home a fine strike to leave Ahmed Mahmoud, Ahli’s goalkeeper, rooted to the spot.

The visitors tried to rebound, but Grafite was thwarted from another fairy-tale moment late on. Ahli’s quadruple aspirations extinguished, they will be further frustrated that they could not follow Al Ain and Al Jazira in qualifying for the last 16.

This defeat will be particularly difficult to take, yet Ahli must quickly dust themselves off. Take the President’s Cup next month and they will rewrite the history books anyway.

jmcauley@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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