Sport

Manning pledges his allegiance to Colts for rest of his career

Unlike Lebron James, the quarterback has made it clear in his final year there is no place he wants to be more than Indianapolis.

Peyton Manning is in the final year of his contract, but Indianapolis Colts fans can sleep easy - their Pro Bowl quarterback said he has no plans to follow LeBron James's playbook and look for greener pastures. No doubt there will be a long line of suitors with cheque books in hand ready to sign the four-time NFL MVP next season. But Jim Irsay, the Colts owner, has said he is prepared to do whatever it takes to keep Manning in Indianapolis, including making him the league's highest paid player.

Unlike James, who kept Cavaliers basketball fans squirming for months before announcing he was leaving Cleveland for Miami, Manning has made it clear there is no place he wants to be more than Indianapolis. "I have a contract for this year," Manning said. "I've not had to cloud my mind with contract details. "I've just been able to play football and that's my focus right now ... I have faith it will get done at a certain time, whenever that is I'm not exactly sure.

"This is obviously where I want to play, where I want to be. Indianapolis is my home, I enjoy playing here, I enjoy living here and hope to play here for the rest of my career." Entering the final year of a US$98 million (Dh359.9m), seven-year deal, Manning's numbers indicate he is in line for a big rise. Having secured the first overall pick in the 1998 draft, the Colts used it to select Manning over Ryan Leaf, another hot prospect, who turned out to be one of the draft's biggest busts.

With Manning at the controls of the offence, the Colts have posted double-digit wins in 10 of the past 11 seasons and have gone seven consecutive years with 12 or more victories. They have flirted with perfection, including a 14-0 start to last season, and have made it to the Super Bowl twice in the last four years, winning it all in 2007. Last season, Manning, 34, passed Vinny Testaverde, Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton to move into fourth place on the NFL's all-time passing list with 50,128 yards, trailing only John Elway, Dan Marino and Brett Favre.

Manning has also earned his pay cheque, making 192 consecutive regular season starts, second only to Favre, the Minnesota Vikings' ironman, who is at 285 with the Vikings and the Green Bay Packers. * Reuters

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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.”