Nomad Beckham may regret move

On the sixth anniversary of his departure from Old Trafford bound for Estadio Bernabeu, it would be interesting to know whether, in his heart of hearts, David Beckham ever regrets his decision to become a football nomad. It is not a question worth posing to Mrs Beckham; "Are you joking?" you can almost hear the erstwhile Spice Girl trill. With her singing career in an inexorable tailspin, the image conscious Victoria - who always found the north of England a dowdy backwater - has since set up home in Madrid, Los Angeles (where she mixed with the Hollywood glitterati including Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes) - and most recently Milan, whose citizens are arguably the most stylish in all Europe.

When you regard yourself as one of Europe's beautiful people, then leaving Manchester with a First Class round-the-world air ticket tucked away in her Gucci handbag will not have caused her any sleepless nights, but what of David? Financially, although the lad was already set up for life, his recent travels have been a nice little boost to his personal pension fund. Professionally, however, he must harbour serious misgivings about turning his back on United, the club that he routinely travelled from Essex to support as a boy.

During his 10-year working relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, Beckham was a member of a United side that won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions' League in 1999 while becoming a permanent fixture on the right-hand side of the England midfield. As a player, he was no George Best, Bobby Charlton or Denis Law but he was the undisputed King of the Stretford End. As Sir Alex increasingly came to see Beckham, whom he had regarded as an adopted son, as a celebrity first and a footballer second - Fergie was outraged when Beckham skipped a training session in order to baby-sit his son Brooklyn (godfather Elton John, godmother Elizabeth Hurley) on the same day that Mrs Beckham was photographed at London Fashion Week - he sadly issued an ultimatum: shape up or ship out.

And so to Madrid they set sail; having become accustomed to being the star turn at Old Trafford, at the Bernabeu Beckham was just another gallactico in the company of Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and the club captain Raul although he won the hearts of the Madrillenos by scoring within three minutes of his Primera Liga debut. But Real, for all their massive expenditure, were a team in the doldrums and although Beckham contributed the occasional wonder goal via one of his trademark free-kicks, in January 2007 he announced that he had signed a five-year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Walt Disney league that is American soccer, although he remained in Madrid long enough to help Real win their first league title in four years.

"I'm going there not to be a superstar," he explained. "With me, it's about football. I'm going there to make a difference." Guess what? He did not. True, the Beckhams were invited to every A-list party in Beverly Hills but to the average American soccer will forever rate below tractor-pulling as a sporting spectacle. At the age of 34 and with the prospect of one final World Cup tournament in the offing next summer, Beckham has since negotiated a unique time-share deal that allowed him to play for AC Milan - where he has been an undoubted success - during the Italian league season before returning to the LA Galaxy.

All in all, he probably wishes he had stayed put at United. rphilip@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.”