Luis Suarez more delighted with win than goal; statue unveiled for Cristiano Ronaldo; Roberto Carlos quits Sivasspor of Turkey

 Spain

Luis Suarez was delighted to score his first league goal for Barcelona, in his eighth Primera Liga match, but claimed a 5-0 victory over Cordoba on Saturday was more significant. “It was more important for the team to get the three points,” he said after their final match before the winter break. “Now we need to get some rest and start thinking about our next matches. I know I am a striker and I have to score goals, but I was sure that with my teammates’ help I’d eventually get one. I wasn’t obsessed with it because I knew I was helping the team to get good results. Of course, it’s always important to get goals in the league, but I wasn’t panicking.” Suarez had scored twice for Barcelona in the Uefa Champions League.

 Portugal

World player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo returned to his home town of Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira on Sunday to attend the unveiling of a statue sculpted in his honour. The Real Madrid star travelled to the Portuguese island from Marrakech, where on Saturday he helped his club lift the Club World Cup, their fourth trophy of 2014. “This is a very special moment, to have a statue of me,” an emotional Ronaldo said at the ceremony, where he was joined by members of his family and thousands of fans. “Ronaldo has never forgotten his origins,” said his mother, Dolores Aveiro. The 3.4-metre statue forms part of Ronaldo’s personal museum on the island housing his haul of trophies, including his two Ballon d’Or titles.

 Turkey

Former Brazil defender Roberto Carlos quit his first coaching job, leaving Sivasspor of the Turkish top flight yesterday after a succession of poor results left them 17th and in the relegation zone. The club in central Turkey finished a creditable fifth last season, Roberto Carlos’s first since his final season as a player, at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala. He is the ninth manager to quit or be sacked from a Turkish Super Lig side this year, meaning that half of the sides in the 18-team league have switched managers.

 Australia

The diminutive striker Nathan Burns pushed his claims for Socceroos selection in next month’s Asian Cup with two goals to guide Wellington Phoenix to a 2-0 A-League win over Sydney FC yesterday. The Phoenix leapfrogged Sydney into fourth spot on the standings, with Burns continuing to impress as the leading A-League marksman with 10 goals. Burns, 26, played regularly for Australia’s age-group teams, but he has made only seven appearances with the senior side and has not scored.

 England

Hartlepool will not sign convicted rapist Ched Evans, the League Two club said yesterday. Ronnie Moore, the club’s manager, said after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Oxford that it was a “possibility” the former Sheffield United striker could join Hartlepool. But in a statement released on Sunday, the club said they “do not intend signing Ched Evans and, for the avoidance of doubt, will not be doing so, irrespective of his obvious ability as a football player”.

Schedule:

Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles

Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.

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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Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA