(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Billionaires gathering at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, are worried about global
terrorism, oil prices and Vladimir Putin's stance on Ukraine. The one thing they agree on is that the Fed will keep interest
rates at record lows.
About a half dozen of the wealthiest participants, including Irish telecommunications mogul Denis O'Brien and Italian shoe
billionaire Mario Polegato, said the US Federal Reserve won't raise rates until the end of the year.
"Everything is too tender at the moment," O'Brien, chairman of Hamilton, Bermuda-based Digicel Group, the largest
telecommunications company in the Caribbean, said by phone. The Fed won't increase rates "until late 2015 or the beginning of
2016 at the earliest."
The 56-year-old, who has attended Davos for more than a decade and often comes to the event for just a day on his Gulfstream 650
jet plane, said the trade relationship between Russia and Europe and the US is the greatest geopolitical issue facing the world's
economy.
"The US and Europe have the wrong approach on Russia," he said. "The big issue here is whether the EU, US and IMF will help
Ukraine prevent a default. If Europe doesn't stand firm with the Ukrainians, the country will melt down."
O'Brien is one of at least 100 billionaires joining more than 2,500 business and political leaders in Switzerland this week,
according to a list of attendees and promotional materials obtained by Bloomberg News, which polled them on global risks and
investing.
He said if he had $100mn to invest, he would put $60mn in Yandex, which operates the biggest search engine in Russia, and $40mn
in mobile-phone operator VimpelCom. He said oil would be $60 per barrel at the end of the year.
The wealthiest people on the planet got even richer last year, adding $92bn to their collective net worth, according to the
Bloomberg billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's 400 wealthiest individuals. The aggregate net worth of the world's
top billionaires stands at about $4tn, according to the ranking.
Jack Ma, last year's biggest gainer, is attending the forum in Davos, as is Bill Gates, the founder and chairman of Redmond,
Washington-based Microsoft Corp and the world's richest person. Both declined to participate in the Bloomberg survey through
spokesmen.
Billionaire Adi Godrej, 72, said oil would be around $45 per barrel at the start of 2016, and that the militant Islamic State
movement is the biggest threat to global stability. He said he would invest $100mn in Picassos over stocks, US dollars or gold.
Godrej, who has visited Davos for more than 20 years, forecast that the Fed would raise rates in the middle of the year, and
would do so in two or three tranches. Last year, he predicted that interest rates would rise "somewhat in the developed world."
Rahul Bajaj is also among the 15 Indian billionaires in attendance, topped only by the US contingent, which has more than 25 at
the event, including investor George Soros, Google chairman Eric Schmidt, and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg,
who became a billionaire during last year's meeting.
Bajaj said terrorism and income inequality are the biggest threats to the world. International conflict, along with extreme
weather events and high unemployment, are among the five top global risks in terms of likelihood, according to the World Economic
Forum's Global Risk study, which was released January 15.
He said he would invest $100mn in the stocks of his family businesses, including Pune, India-based Bajaj Auto Ltd, the nation's
second-largest motorcycle company and maker of a popular three-wheeled auto rickshaw.
The billionaire, who missed his first annual meeting since 1979 last year, is a friend of the conference's founder, Klaus Schwab.
"I go to Davos for two reasons," Bajaj said two years ago in a phone interview from his home in Pune. "I go there to make new
friends and continue old friendships, and I go to enjoy myself, enjoy the weather and learn a lot."
Mario Moretti Polegato is the only billionaire coming to Davos who lives in Italy. The founder and chairman of Geox, a Treviso,
Italy-based shoemaker and retailer, said European politics and the growth of populist parties are worrisome. The 62-year-old, who
often holds court in the lobby of the Edelweiss hotel a few blocks away from the forum's Conference Center, said oil will be $70
a barrel at the end of the year, and that he would invest in stocks over US dollars, gold or Picassos.
Kenneth Tuchman, the founder of Englewood, Colorado-based TeleTech Holdings, which operates call centres, forecast the Fed
wouldn't raise rates until the fourth quarter at the earliest. The 55-year-old said in an e-mail that the world's biggest
geopolitical challenges are "multiple revolutions due to oil prices," which he forecast would be $60 per barrel at the end of the
year.
Russian David Yakobachvili, chairman of Moscow-based Bioenergy Corp, said in a January 19 phone interview that he doesn't expect
the Fed to raise rates this year because the US economy "is booming and they do not need to scare away investors."
He said he doesn't expect oil to increase in price this year, and that a military conflict is the biggest risk facing the world.
"Fixing economic problems isn't that difficult," Yakobachvili, 57, said. "Stopping military escalation is."
At least eight Russian billionaires are in Davos this week.
Pegasystems founder Alan Trefler became a billionaire in 2013 after his relationship management software maker surged in value.
The 58-year-old, whose father was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the US after World War II, said radicalisation is the
biggest threat to the world.
"It is a divisive force affecting every aspect of society - economic, political, cultural, familial," he said in an e- mail.
Trefler was a chess prodigy in his youth. He tied for first place at the World Open Chess Championship in 1975, while studying at
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he received a degree in economics and computer science. He formed Pegasystems
in 1983. The company has fallen about 20% in the past 12 months, reducing his fortune to about $800mn.
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