The former Chelsea managers Jose Mourinho, pictured, and Claudio Ranieri are not the best of friends.
The former Chelsea managers Jose Mourinho, pictured, and Claudio Ranieri are not the best of friends.

Sport

Old enemies collide

The Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho and his Juventus counterpart Claudio Ranieri clash for real tomorrow after a number of verbal spats.

Mark Meadows

November 20, 2008

MILAN // Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho and Juventus counterpart Claudio Ranieri clash for real tomorrow after a number of verbal spats between the former Chelsea managers. The pair are far from being best of friends given their recent past, differing styles and their clubs' Serie A rivalry.

Ranieri built up an impressive Chelsea side only to be sacked in 2004 and watch Mourinho take over and lead the London club to two Premier League titles. The debate about how much credit each man deserved for Chelsea's success rumbles on and almost as soon as Mourinho arrived at champions Inter in June, a personal feud began. The charasmatic and direct Mourinho constrasts markedly with the avuncular and calm Ranieri. The Portuguese coach has criticised Ranieri's knowledge of English and accused the 57-year-old of being too long in the tooth among other jibes.

Ranieri has mixed views about his rival. "I don't like it how he creates controversies," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Do I like anything about him? Yes, the fact that all his players speak highly of him, as it means that he manages to forge a great rapport with them. Our frictions have nothing to do with the fact that he replaced me at Chelsea. "I knew I was on borrowed time but I believe I still had a superb season - managing to lift the Blues into fourth place without spending any money."

Mourinho meanwhile said: "I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to ensure I could communicate with the players, media and fans," he said. "Ranieri had been in England for five years and still struggled to say 'good morning' and 'good afternoon.' "In his mentality he said that does not need to win to be happy. He may have had this mentality for this almost 60 years. "He has won a Super Cup, a small cup. He has never won a major trophy. Maybe he needs to change his mindset but he is too old to do it."

The match between the clubs is called the "Derby of Italy". "The rivalry with Juventus is older, more traditional and linked to scudettos. Instead the rivalry with AC Milan is because we are from the same city," Inter president Massimo Moratti said. * Reuters

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.”

UPI facts

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