Abu Dhabi International Airport has officially changed its name to Zayed International Airport.
The name change, which was announced last year and ordered by President Sheikh Mohamed, in honour of the UAE's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, came into effect on Friday.
It coincides with the official opening of the airport's Terminal A, Abu Dhabi Media Office reported.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad, Adviser for Special Affairs at the Presidential Court, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Airports Board of Directors, attended the naming ceremony at the airport on Friday.
"We are immensely proud to rename Abu Dhabi's largest airport in honour of the Founding Father of the UAE," Sheikh Mohammed said.
"The unsurpassed achievements of the late Sheikh Zayed in connecting our country to nations around the world have inspired our commitment to ensuring that Abu Dhabi further strengthens its position as a world-leading hub for travel, trade and commerce."
Activities will also be held at the airport throughout the weekend, including live performances by international artists, digital events, personalised travel giveaways and promotions.
The airport's new logo was also unveiled at the event, which features a traditional dhow boat, a date palm tree, the desert sun, Qasr Al Hosn Fort, and Terminal A.
Etihad Airways and Wizz Air announced flash sales from February 9 to 14 to mark the occasion, while the airport's shops and restaurants will offer special deals until Sunday, February 11.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre also marked the occasion by releasing images captured by KhalifaSat showing the progress of work at Terminal A in the Zayed International Airport.
Covering 742,000 square metres, it is one of the largest airport terminals in the world and will significantly increase the airport's passenger and cargo capacity.
The $3 billion building is set to double capacity and manage up to 45 million passengers a year.
It is capable of handling 79 aircraft at once and 11,000 passengers per hour.
The terminal has nine main biometric touchpoints including self-service kiosks, immigration e-gates and boarding gates, as well as streamlined security checkpoints.
It also uses facial recognition technology to screen passengers and minimise waiting times.
Watch: Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed tours Abu Dhabi Airport Terminal A ahead of opening
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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