Israel declares emergency in Lod as unrest spreads

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod, near Tel Aviv, after reports on Tuesday of Arabs setting fire to a synagogue and Jews stoning a car that was being driven by an Arab resident.

Violence in mixed Jewish-Arab towns flared early on Wednesday amid growing anger in the country's Arab minority over Israeli air strikes on Gaza and police raids on Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque.

"We have lost control of the city and the streets," mayor of Lod Yair Revivo told Israel's Channel 12 News. Rubbish bins, knocked over and set ablaze, could be seen near by.

Security officials said they reassigned 16 border police companies to Lod from the occupied West Bank to deal with the violence.

Police arrested dozens of people overnight in Lod as well as in majority-Arab towns in central and northern Israel, including Umm Al Fahm along the West Bank border and Jisr Al Zarqa on the Mediterranean coast.

Israeli media reported that Uri Buri, a popular Jewish-owned fish restaurant in the mixed coastal city of Acre, had been set ablaze. Footage broadcast by Channel 12 showed the restaurant's exterior blacked and burnt, with its windows smashed.

In Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, Arab protesters clashed with police, who fired stun grenades to disperse them.

Areas with Arab residents, including Lod and Jaffa, were among those in which sirens were triggered by rockets fired from Gaza. Two Lod residents died on Wednesday after a vehicle in the area was hit by a rocket, Israeli police said.

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.”

Israel declares emergency in Lod as unrest spreads

Police arrest dozens of people overnight in Lod and in majority-Arab towns in central and northern Israel

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