Sport

Jordan dismissal hands Everton a priceless three points

David Moyes' side defeated 10-man Burnley to claim their first win in eight matches and consign Owen Coyle's Clarets to their ninth successive away defeat.

Gary Meenaghan

December 29, 2009

David Moyes' Everton defeated 10-man Burnley at Goodison Park to claim their first win in eight matches and consign Owen Coyle's Clarets to their ninth successive away defeat. With the hour mark passing and the deadlock unbroken, Stephen Jordan's needless foul on Everton's Steven Pienaar in the 61st minute saw him shown his second yellow card. The defender's dismissal gave the Toffees the impetus to push forward and steal two late goals from substitute James Vaughan and the ever-impressive Steven Pienaar.

The result ensured Burnley returned to Turf Moor still searching for their first away win of the season. "It's a mixture of emotions, frustration and anger, because we had opportunities to score the first goal of the game," said Coyle. "We had some good goal-scoring chances and looked very comfortable prior to going down to 10 men. If we continue playing and performing as well as that, we'll be fine."

Moyes's men had not won at home since September, while Burnley had won just four times on the road in the whole of 2009 and before the sending off it looked like the game could swing either way. Everton's fluent one-touch movement in the midfield was creating chances, but the Clarets - and particularly Steven Fletcher - always looked dangerous. But 20 minutes after Jordan's dismissal, Vaughan was introduced and the injury-plagued midfielder made an instant impact. The 21 year-old was lurking at the back post in the 83rd minute and tapped in for his first goal in two years after Marouane Fellaini's fantastic ball eluded Yakubu.

As Burnley pushed for an equaliser, Pienaar - who had been pulling the strings for the entire game - picked up a through-ball from Yakuba and smashed an unstoppable shot past Brian Jensen at his near post. "We played really well in the first half, but didn't get the goal our play merited," said Moyes. "The introduction of James Vaughan gave us something different, and within a minute or two he got the goal. Overall we deserved the victory." Man of the match: Steven Pienaar (Everton) @Email:gmeenaghan@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.”