Imran Khan says march on Pakistan capital will resume on Tuesday

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has said his protest march to Islamabad will go ahead despite an apparent attempt to kill him.

Mr Khan was shot and injured last Thursday as he led an anti-government demonstration towards the capital.

The attack in Wazirabad, in Pakistan's Punjab province, killed one person and left at least 10 others wounded. A man was arrested at the scene.

Mr Khan, 70, was admitted to hospital on Thursday after he received gunshot wounds to his right leg. He had an operation to remove bullet shards and was discharged on Sunday before moving to his ancestral home in Lahore.

Removed in April after a no-confidence vote in parliament, Mr Khan said on Sunday the march would resume on Tuesday, AP reported.

He again demanded an investigation into the shooting as well as the resignation of three powerful personalities in the government and the military whom he alleges were involved in the attack.

He accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and army general Faisal Naseer of working with the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s spy agency, to orchestrate the shooting.

“These three decided to kill me,” he alleged on Friday at a press conference from hospital.

He said he survived the attack because he fell after being hit in the legs, just as a second gunman fired at him.

The Supreme Court’s Chief Justice, Umar Ata Bandial, ordered the police to register a complaint and begin investigating the incident within the next 24 hours as a necessary legal requirement, according to Mr Khan’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

The government has denied the accusations, and blamed the assassination attempt on a lone assailant fuelled by religious extremism.

Mr Sharif offered to resign if any evidence implicated him in the attack. He has also asked the country’s chief justice to investigate.

The military called Mr Khan's accusations “baseless and irresponsible” and said it was taking legal action against him.

Mr Khan organised a march on Islamabad to pressure Mr Sharif’s government to hold early elections, but the prime minister has said elections will take place as scheduled next year.

Mr Khan led an initial protest march in May but it ended when supporters clashed with police in the capital.

He has been calling for an early election since he was ousted from office in April.

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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.”

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A little about CVRL

Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.

One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.

The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.