Alan McManus of England won the Dubai Duty Free Classic which was the last event held in the Middle East.
Alan McManus of England won the Dubai Duty Free Classic which was the last event held in the Middle East.

Sport

Snooker gets a lifeline

Bahrain is to hold a world ranking snooker event in November after a 14-year absence for the sport in the Middle East.

Desmond Kane

August 18, 2008

ABU DHABI // After fighting a drought in the UK, snooker yesterday discovered water in the Middle East. The game's governing body have confirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain will host its first world ranking event in early November. The arrival of the Bahrain competition could be regarded as timely after 888.com announced their decision to withdraw sponsorship of the World Championship, despite being just three years into a five-year contract. Saga Insurance also invoked a termination clause to endorse the invitational Masters tournament in London.

The Gulf region has not housed a major tournament since the demise of the Dubai Duty Free Classic in 1994 when the Scottish player Alan McManus defeated Peter Ebdon, the former world champion who resides in Dubai. The Bahrain championship will be staged in Manama (Nov 8-15), and will feature the world's leading 16 players. The world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy, John Higgins and Stephen Hendry are among the heady names participating.

Sir Rodney Walker, the chairman of the WPBSA and World Snooker, hopes the Middle East can rival the Far East as a desirable destination for ranking events. "This is a major step in our strategy to make professional snooker a global sport. This tournament will be a catalyst for further growth across the Middle East," said Walker. "We already have two fully funded ranking tournaments in China and we have had considerable commercial success in the Far East in recent years. With this venture into Bahrain we intend to continue to exploit the potential of markets where snooker is popular."

Ebdon has discussed the possibility of bringing a new tournament to the UAE, but he is hopeful that the event in Bahrain will garner the attention of potential sponsors in the area. "To have a brand new tournament is a great boost for the players, and particularly to have one in a new territory," said Ebdon. "I have witnessed at first hand the popularity of snooker in the Middle East, the people love it here.

"I have no doubt that the tournament will be well supported." The Bahrain event will fall between the Grand Prix in October, and the UK Championship in December. The season starts on Sunday with the Northern Ireland trophy being staged in Belfast. @Email:dkane@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.”