Sven-Goran Eriksson said he will not comment on Asamoah Gyan’s potential transfer to Shanghai SIPG until after his side play Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League on Wednesday.
The Chinese club, currently second in the table, have reportedly had a bid for the striker, believed to be almost €20 million (Dh81m), accepted by Al Ain, the Arabian Gulf League champions.
Gyan, 29, is expected in Shanghai this week to discuss his financial package — said to be worth around €250,000 per week — and possibly undergo a medical. As of yet, Al Ain have not formally commented on the transfer. However, Chinese state agency Xinhua have reported that Gyan is on his way to Shanghai.
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Speaking Tuesday at a pre-match press briefing before Shanghai face Guangzhou R&F, Eriksson was quoted as saying: “I will not comment on Gyan today because my focus is on the game and this press conference is not the appropriate place to discuss it. I need all my 20 players focused on the match.”
If the transfer does go through, it will represent one of the most significant deals to have been struck by a UAE club. Gyan joined in 2011 from England's Sunderland, initially on loan in a deal worth £6m (Dh34.3m). He earned a permanent move the following summer after scoring 22 goals to fire Al Ain to the league title, securing the Golden Boot in the process. Al Ain are thought to have paid Sunderland a similar fee to the loan arrangement. Intriguingly, The National understands the Premier League club are entitled to a portion of any sell-on fee, which could reach up to 20 per cent.
Gyan, the Ghana captain, finished his second and third seasons again as the league’s top scorer. In four years at Al Ain, he has helped the club clinch three league championships and one President’s Cup, scoring the winner in the 2014 final. In last year’s Asian Champions League, he led the tournament’s scoring charts with 12 goals, as Al Ain advanced to the semi-finals.
Gyan’s 2014/15 campaign was his least productive, though, when a persistent quadriceps problems limited him to 17 league appearances — five as a substitute. He still managed to score 13 goals. In all, he has found the net for Al Ain 95 times in 83 league appearances. Last July, he signed an extension that runs until 2018.
A move to Shanghai would mean the Chinese side have to dispense with one of their expatriate players, since China’s top flight employs a 5-foreigner rule. SIPG are currently second in the standings, one point behind Beijing Guoan after 17 matches.
Asked which player could possibly make way for Gyan, Eriksson responded: “I would also like to comment about this after our game tomorrow”.
jmcauley@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.”
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