Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said on Thursday he had congratulated Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto after unofficial counts showed him winning the presidential election in a single round of voting.
“I have [congratulated him], in person last night,” Mr Joko said.
Mr Prabowo, 72, declared a “victory for all Indonesians” before jubilant supporters late on Wednesday, after so-called quick ballot counts by independent pollsters showed he had won nearly 60 per cent of votes.
Mr Prabowo's win is not yet official – his two rivals have not yet conceded and the official results could take up to a month to be tabulated.
Official results are expected by March 20 and, if confirmed, the new president and vice-president will take office in October.
The early counts, conducted by polling agencies and based on millions of ballots sampled from the across the country, have proved accurate in past elections.
“We should not be arrogant. We should not be proud. We should not be euphoric. We still have to be humble. This victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people,” Mr Prabowo said in a speech broadcast on national television from a sports stadium on the night of the election.
A former rival of Mr Joko who lost two presidential races to him, Mr Prabowo embraced the popular leader to run as his heir.
The wealthy former general even chose Mr Joko's son as his running mate, a choice that ran up against constitutional age limits and has activists worried about an emerging political dynasty in the 25-year-old democracy.
Mr Joko's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is poised to become the youngest vice-president in Indonesia's history.
Spokespersons for Mr Prabowo's rivals, former governors Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, who trailed at least 33 points behind in quick counts, said they would investigate allegations of “systematic and massive fraud”, but have not provided any evidence.
Second-placed rival Mr Anies, who gathered 25 per cent of the vote, said his team will wait for the official results and respect the people's decision.
Independent analysts said there were no signs of systematic electoral fraud.
Mr Prabowo was born in 1951 to one of Indonesia's most powerful families.
His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was an influential politician, and a minister under presidents Sukarno and Suharto. His father first worked for Sukarno, but later turned against him and was forced into exile.
Mr Prabowo spent most of his childhood overseas and speaks French, German, English and Dutch.
The family returned to Indonesia after Gen Suharto came to power in 1967 after a failed left-wing coup.
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.”
