Look around you. If you are from a country in which cricket is the main, or at least a major, sport, has any cricket event ever been as prominent in the UAE as the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the last month?
The UAE hosts a lot of cricket. It stages a huge amount of domestic matches, much of which slips under the radar. In a couple of days, for example, a Superstars T20 in Dubai begins, the most lucrative domestic tournament. Players such as Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi turn out for local clubs.
That, by the way, is a regular occurrence. This season has also been among the busiest internationally for the country. Pakistan has hosted two major international series and do so, pretty much, every winter. There has been an U19 World Cup, the World Twenty20 qualifiers, the opening game of the English county season and various others.
But has any of it matched this, the IPL, in its build-up? There are billboards on Sheikh Zayed road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai of every IPL franchise captain. Let that sink in: cricket billboards on a desert highway in the UAE. Hypermarkets were overrun by people wanting to buy tickets when they went on sale. Online sales have been crazy.
Stadiums are abuzz, dressing themselves up for a grand show. Bollywood stars are flying in.
One official reported rumours of flights from India being completely booked.
All kinds of people, even right-minded, sensible ones who generally let cricket pass by with little notice, want in on the action and are asking for tickets.
Demand for corporate hospitality boxes extended beyond the UAE, into the region and India. It has found its way to the front pages of newspapers.
This must be what Sharjah was like in its heyday during the late ’80s and early ’90s, when the cricket world descended upon it before 24/7 television, the internet and social media.
Whatever else it is, this is a taste of the IPL. This is the veritable manifestation of the strength of Indian cricket, that it can transplant and create this force wherever it goes. It is not as if Pakistan have played low-key opponents in poor-quality matches here for the last five years. They have played all top nations, other than India, and some of the contests have been memorable. Some have been well-attended.
Yet, how many of those have carried the kind of impact beyond their core constituencies? How many venues have been sold out in the fashion that so many IPL games are already?
By the way, if you can feel the IPL’s omnipotency here, imagine what it is like every year when it is staged in India.
It was not for nothing that the Kolkata Knight Riders coach Trevor Bayliss noted yesterday that the IPL in the UAE was pretty laid back by comparison.
Yet, amid all the hoopla and shininess, we would be remiss to ignore that today, the IPL is not making an appearance in the UAE alone. It will also be appearing in India’s Supreme Court, in relation to a corruption case that has dragged on without clean resolution over the last year.
Whatever the decision, it is a reminder that the IPL steamrolls its way through life perennially from the throes of extinction to the prospect of expansion; alive one moment through its on-field spectacle, dying the next because of another off-field wrangle.
Ultimately, the strength of its on-field contests will decide whether it will thrive as a league in the truest sense of that word. In the meanwhile, enjoy the next two weeks,the full stands, the noise and the matches that many of the world’s finest cricketers play.
But also hope that, eventually, it sorts itself out so that the cricket is what matters most.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
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.”
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Astra%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdallah%20Abu%20Sheikh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20technology%20investment%20and%20development%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20size%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: Dh99,000
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
England 241-3 (20 ovs)
Malan 130 no, Morgan 91
New Zealand 165 all out (16.5ovs)
Southee 39, Parkinson 4-47
England win by 76 runs
Series level at 2-2
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
