SECOND PRACTICE
ABU DHABI // Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso both crashed during second practice for the Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as McLaren-Mercedes' ominous pace suggested they will be favourites for pole position in tomorrow's qualifying session.
Vettel, who has already retained his world title before arriving at Yas Marina Circuit, slid wide at Turn 1 54 minutes into the session, with his Red Bull Racing car sliding across the run-off area and into the barriers. Fifteen minutes later, Alonso, the twice world champion, spun around as he exited the same corner and he careered backwards into the barrier, damaging the rear of his Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton, who took pole position in the 2009 race at the track, emphasised his desire to repeat that feat as he was fastest with a time of 1min 39.586secs. His McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who had been quickest in first practice, was 0.199secs off Hamilton's pace in second. Alonso and his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa were third and fourth, ahead of the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Vettel. Michael Schumacher was seventh quickest, but he set the fastest middle sector time of the day.
That section includes the two long straights, and confirmed that the Mercedes-GP, with its renown strong straightline speed, will be a factor in the race.
FIRST PRACTICE
ABU DHABI // Jenson Button topped the times in a busy first practice session for Sunday's Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion set a quickest time of 1min 40.466secs in his McLaren-Mercedes during the 90-minute session at the Yas Marina Circuit.
As has been the story of the season it was the Red Bull Racing and McLaren cars who were the class of the field.
Button finished just 0.126secs ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull, with Lewis Hamilton, Button's teammate, third.
Sebastian Vettel, who has already retained his drivers' world title, was fourth quickest, almost half-a-second off Button.
It was an interesting session for Ferrari as both drivers had spins. Felipe Massa lost his car under braking for Turn 1 as he touched the kerb, while Fernando Alonso was left facing the wrong way at Turn 6 as the back end of his car stepped out on him.
Both drivers were able to rejoin the track after their incidents, although Alonso twice had to run wide at Turn 9 as the double world champion struggled to find the limits of the track on his way to being fifth quickest.
A number of drivers ran wide as dust made grip levels tricky.
Rubens Barrichello's Williams suffered a fall in oil pressure and slowed on track on his first attempt at setting a competitive lap time, and the Brazilian was forced to stop on track at Turn 11 and sit out the rest of the session.
The second practice session begins at 5pm.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
One-off T20 International: UAE v Australia
When: Monday, October 22, 2pm start
Where: Abu Dhabi Cricket, Oval 1
Tickets: Admission is free
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Darcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Peter Siddle
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.”
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
