Bahrain will know within weeks whether the country's grand prix will return to the 2011 Formula One calendar after Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's commercial chief, said yesterday that he wants a decision to be made before the race season starts in Australia later this month.
The Kingdom was scheduled to host the season-opening race on March 13, but saw the event postponed by Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad following recent unrest. So long as the troubles subside, however, Ecclestone said he hopes the grand prix race can return to an already congested calendar later this year.
"The FIA (the sport's governing body) world council will meet at the beginning of March and could look into the situation," he said in an interview with Formula One's official website. "I have already spoken with FIA president Jean Todt about the possibility of finding a new date and we both agreed that a decision has to be made before the season starts."
The Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park will open the season on March 27.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, a vice-president of the FIA World Council, told The National last week that a decision could not be considered until Bahrain formally requests to be reinstated on to the calendar. Officials from the Bahrain International Circuit have yet to confirm they have made such a request, but Ecclestone dismissed the idea of the race being held elsewhere.
"It's all very easy," he said. "We don't need an alternative race anywhere in Europe or any other place. We need a race in Bahrain.
"If the Crown Prince is of the opinion that his country is able to host a race we will return to Bahrain," added Ecclestone, who also refused to rule out the possibility of organising the race during a three-week break in August, despite the region's summer heat.
"I think the teams are sensible enough even to race in Bahrain in the summer break, and despite high temperatures, because this is the way we can support the country."
Ecclestone, who is intent on improving the sport as a spectacle, also said he would consider soaking the tracks as a means of making races more exhilarating. When Pirelli, F1's new tyre manufacturer, organised a testing session in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, the Italian suppliers drenched the entire Yas Marina Circuit with water.
"We always had the most exciting races in the wet, so let's think of making rain," he said. "There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks. Why not let it 'rain' in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last 10 laps?
"Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all."
Ecclestone was also willing to offer some bold predictions. He claimed Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion, could return to the top of the podium if he is provided with a competitive car from his Mercedes GP race team.
The 80-year-old also said he believes Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull-Renault driver who became the youngest world champion in the sport's history after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November, will race for Italian manufacturers Ferrari in the future.
"One day I do see him with Ferrari. In the life of every successful Formula One driver comes the moment when he wants to sit in a Ferrari," Ecclestone said.
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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.”
