Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has hailed former manager Roberto Mancini and confirmed he expects to announce his replacement in the next two weeks.
Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini has been linked with the manager's post at City for some time but he confirmed yesterday there is still no done deal between himself and the Barclays Premier League club.
However Al Mubarak has now set a timeframe for the new appointment and the criteria the club is looking for ahead of next season's bid to regain the league title.
"We obviously want sustainable success for this club and (picking the manager) is absolutely the most important decision for a football club," Mubarak told mcfc.co.uk.
"The type of person we would like running our football team is someone with great man-management capability and the ability to get the best out of the talent we have, get the best out of the youth we have and establish and continue a systematic approach from the youth team to the elite team and reserves.
"We have a wonderful team running this process internally (to select a new manager) and are putting a very comprehensive process in place.
"They have created a shortlist of managers who fit that criteria and we are pretty much done. We are very close. I expect to make an appointment probably in the next two weeks."
Whether the man to fit the role will be Pellegrini remains to be seen after the 59-year-old Chilean spoke earlier this week of having a "verbal commitment" with the Blues.
He stressed, though, that no contract had been signed, something he reiterated today at a press conference where he was previewing Malaga's Primera Division final-day away clash with champions Barcelona tomorrow - a game he has already announced will be his last with the Andalusian club.
Asked if he had reached an agreement with City, Pellegrini said: "Not yet. Next Monday we will see where I go.
"On Sunday I finish my contract here with Malaga and on Monday we will start to see where I go next season."
Al Mubarak was clear with his reasons for wanting a new man in the City dugout after a mostly frustrating season.
"We all felt it was time for a change," he said.
"Our expectations were to come in and achieve more and move forward.
"I don't think we have achieved that this year and that is why we have to re-focus this summer on getting us back on track and again to winning ways. We are a club that has been designed to win championships. We are here to win, to play beautiful football
"Roberto has done a great job for the club and everybody associated with Manchester City should be deeply appreciative of everything Roberto has done for this club.
"He's won us the FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League, the Charity Shield. It's been a wonderful ride and Roberto has done an incredible job.
"I have the highest regard for Roberto as a coach, as a manager and as a friend and he will always be someone I will deeply regard as a good friend and a manager.
"But it was time for City for a change. We need something new. We need a change of direction and a decision was made that it was time to part ways.
"I wish Roberto all the best. He's a good manager and I will always be a friend for Roberto but it's time now to look at the new season, to prepare for the new season and to bring in a new manager for the club to continue this journey we have started and hopefully to take us to a whole new level."
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
