MONZA // Fernando Alonso was struggling to understand why his Renault team was being investigated for allegedly ordering former teammate Nelson Piquet Jr to crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix to help him to victory. Alonso won last season's first Formula One night race after Piquet Jr crashed into a wall shortly after the two-time world champion had pitted, with the safety car allowing Alonso to position himself well to take the victory.
The FIA, the sport's governing body, is investigating claims that the French team ordered Piquet Jr to crash to help Alonso win. "I'm very surprised. I cannot imagine these things, these situations," Alonso said today at the Italian Grand Prix. "It's something that never entered my mind." Reports emerged today that team principal Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds discussed the idea with Piquet Jr ahead of the race.
Piquet Jr, who was looking to renew his contract at the time, is pointing fingers at his superiors, while Briatore has implicated Piquet Jr, according to reports of the FIA investigation. Autosport.com reported that Symonds told the FIA that the idea of the crash was spoken but only as a conversation topic and not a plan of action. Renault will appear before the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on September 21 to answer to charges that could see them thrown out of the sport. "After the hearing, everything will be clarified and will be the time to say something. But now there's no sense," said Alonso, who did not feel the current investigation tainted his victory. Piquet Jr was fired by Renault midway through his second season in July.
"It's hard to think someone would crash a car because they were told to," the Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello said. "If that's true then it's very, very sad. Or else someone wants Briatore's head." Alonso fully supported Briatore and said that the decision of the hearing would not change anything in terms of his future. The Spanish driver is out of contract at the end of the season and heavily linked to Ferrari.
"He's always been a nice boss with me. A friend, a boss, he supports my career always," said Alonso, who won back-to-back drivers' titles with Renault in 2005-06. "Flavio is one of the good people here and he has all my support, always." * AP
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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.”
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Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
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