Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a leadership contest in his right-wing Likud party on Friday, ensuring he will lead it into the elections in March.
The Israeli premier, who faces a corruption indictment and a third general election in twelve months, was expected to beat rival Gideon Saar but a close result could have weakened his influence over the party he has dominated for 20 years.
"A huge win! Thank you to Likud members for their trust, support and love," Mr Netanyahu tweeted an hour after polls closed.
Initial results showed Mr Netanyahu had won a comfortable victory over Mr Saar, though a final tally was expected to take several hours.
An unofficial exit poll gave him 71 per cent of the vote and Saar 29 per cent.
"With God's and your help, I will lead Likud to a big victory in the upcoming elections and we will continue to lead the State of Israel to unprecedented achievements," Mr Netanyahu added.
Around 57,000 Likud members cast their ballots across the country throughout Thursday, a little less than 50 per cent of those eligible.
Mr Saar, a former minister seen as to the right of Mr Netanyahu, conceded early on Friday.
"I am content with my decision to have stood. Those who are unwilling to take a risk for what they believe in will never succeed," Mr Saar said on Twitter.
"My colleagues and I will stand behind (Mr Netanyahu) in campaigning for the Likud's success in the general elections," he added.
Mr Saar announced his leadership challenge last month after Israel's attorney general indicted Mr Netanyahu for fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
Mr Netanyahu, 70, denies the allegations.
He will now remain Prime Minister until new elections in March.
Likud and the centrist Blue and White were near neck-and-neck after polls in March and September, with neither able to form a coalition in the country's proportional parliament.
Mr Netanyahu's downfall has been predicted multiple times since he became premier for a second time in 2009, but he has defied expectations and appears determined to fight on.
Stephan Miller, a pollster who has worked on multiple Israeli campaigns, said Mr Netanyahu had campaigned harder than ever before to defeat Mr Saar.
"His job was on the line and he fought to keep it successfully," he said.
Gayil Talshir, a professor of politics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the result could embolden Mr Netanyahu in his campaign against the indictment.
"He is going to argue that the people chose him and not the mechanisms and the judiciary," Ms Talshir said.
She said he would again seek to win a majority in March's election with a view to potentially passing a law that would give him immunity from prosecution.
"The big game for Netanyahu is immunity and for that he needs 61 votes (in the 120-seat parliament)," she said.
Under Israeli law, a prime minister is only forced to step down once convicted with all appeals exhausted.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
