Revealed: Trio sanctioned over Al Assad ties shared base with firm in Beirut blast case

Three businessmen with links to Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad ran companies that shared addresses in the UK with the organisation allegedly behind the chemicals that caused the deadly 2020 blast in Lebanon's capital.

On Thursday, the London High Court ruled that UK-registered Savaro Ltd was liable to pay damages to victims of the Beirut port explosion.

More than 200 people were killed when a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which was impounded in Beirut while en route to Mozambique, exploded.

It had allegedly been purchased by Savaro Ltd in 2013.

According to the UK’s Companies House, George Haswani, Imad Khuri and Mr Haswani’s son-in-law Yousef Arbash are all listed as being involved with companies that shared some London addresses with Savaro Ltd.

All three have been sanctioned by the US for their ties to Mr Al Assad but the court papers make no allegations of culpability in the port blast case.

Savaro Ltd, which was incorporated in the UK in 2006, has had five changes of directors, and presently lists Ukrainian businessman Volodymyr Hliadchenko as its sole director.

For a number of years (2006-2021) it has listed Interstatus as its company secretary.

Interstatus is owned by Marina Psyllou, who was previously also a director of Savaro Ltd between October 2020 and August 2021.

Official documents show Interstatus signed filings submitted by Hesco Engineering and Construction, which was incorporated in the UK in 2005 and listed Mr Haswani and Mr Arbash as directors.

Both companies, Savaro Ltd and Hesco Engineering and Construction, were moved between different addresses twice, with paperwork filed on the same days in 2008 and 2011. They have been listed at both Tottenham Court Road in London and Great Russell Street.

Mr Haswani was sanctioned by the US in 2015 for allegedly buying oil from ISIS on behalf of the Syrian government.

Interstatus also acted as a secretary for IK Petroleum, which was directed by Mr Khuri until 2016.

Mr Khuri’s brother Mudalal is also on the sanctions list. He was accused by the US of attempting to source ammonium nitrate months before the Russian freighter Rhosus ― which was carrying the chemicals that later exploded, causing the Beirut blast — docked in Lebanon.

This week's UK court ruling against Savaro Ltd was the first in the case.

The civil suit was filed in 2021 by the Beirut Bar Association's prosecution office and several victims' families.

The case will return to court in April where a decision on damages will be decided.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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.”