Seven wealthy Lebanese businessmen have been featured in  the 2016 Arabian Business list of 'World's 50 Richest Arabs:

(2) Joseph Safra - $12 bn
Industry: Banking and Finance
Country: Brazil (Lebanon)

Widely regarded as the world’s richest banker, 77-year-old Joseph Safra’s appetite for deal-making remains undiminished. Recent purchases include 'The Gherkin’ tower in the City of London and fruit giant Chiquita. The former adds to the impressive real estate portfolio held by Safra’s eponymously titled group, which includes the 660 Madison Avenue building in New York, prime locations in SoHo and about 100 other prime locations around the planet.

The Lebanese-born banker runs the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. Born into a wealthy banking family, the Safra history originated with the camel trade between Aleppo, Alexandria and Istanbul during the days of the Ottoman empire. The Beirut family decided to move to Brazil in 1952, and in 1955, Joseph’s brother and father began financing assets in Sao Paulo. Joseph Safra founded Banco Safra in 1955, and it remains one of the largest private banks in Brazil, with nearly $60bn in assets. He also oversees Switzerland-based J Safra Sarasin, which oversees $141bn in assets.

(23) Najib Mikati - $3 bn
Industry: Telecommunications
Country: Lebanon

Najib Mikati, who entered Lebanon’s fractious political scene in 1998 as minister of public works and transport, before then becoming a member of parliament representing his native northern port city of Tripoli, later served as a caretaker premier once in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri. He helped steer the country towards parliamentary elections in the wake of the killing before returning in 2011 to serve as premier after the government of Saad Hariri was toppled by Hezbollah and its allies. Mikati helped co-found Investcom along with his brother Taha in 1982 and was later listed on both the London and Dubai stock exchanges in 2006, in what was at the time the largest international listing of a Middle Eastern company.

Investcom was sold in 2006 to South Africa’s MTN Group for $5.5bn and Najib is regularly described as the richest man in Lebanon. His wealth made headlines in April last year with the staging of an extravagant $25m wedding for his son Malick. The wedding took place over three days at the lavish El Badi Palace in Marrakech. Sources said over 1,000 guests attended, including famous Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab and Egyptian singer Amr Diab.

(24) Taha Mikati - $3 bn
Industry: Diversified
Country: Lebanon

Taha Mikati is the founder and chairman of M1 Group. His wealth is rooted in his early delving into construction and engineering in the UAE in the 1960s, where he developed a diversified business along various industries including telecommunications, retail, energy, fashion, real estate and aviation. Its investments have ranged from J Sainsbury, the UK supermarket chain, clothing company Façonnable and a Lebanese agricultural commodities outfit.

Mikati was born and raised in Beirut, attended International College, and later the American University of Beirut. A student of engineering, he later went on to establish the Arabian Construction Company. ACC carried out contracting and engineering projects in the UAE, growing to become one of the largest construction firms in the Middle East. In 1978 he moved back to Lebanon with his family, to run his business from there.

In the midst of the country’s civil war he, along with his younger brother Najib, set up Investcom and entered into the telecommunications industry installing and operating satellite communications systems in the country for businesses to get around the country’s dilapidated infrastructure. Investcom went on to become the first privately-owned company to install a mobile network in the Middle East.

(30) The Hayek Family - $3 bn
Industry: Retail
Country: Switzerland (Lebanon)

The Swatch Group is the world’s biggest watchmaking player, with a market capitalisation of $17.22bn. It employs over 35,600 people in 50 countries and controls a portfolio of popular brands, such as Harry Winston, Blancpain, Omega, Longines and Tissot. The firm is led by chairwoman Nayla and CEO Nick (below), who took over the publicly traded firm after the death of their father, Nicolas.

According to its half year results in July 2015, the group’s net sales were up 3.6 percent to $4.252bn. Significantly, its watches and jewellery segment grew by 3.4 percent, while the Swiss watch industry as a whole saw a decline of 1.1 percent overall.

Another headline move last year was also the fact that its $400m legal battle against US jeweller Tiffany & Co, over their failed joint venture to produce and market watches, was set aside by an Amsterdam court. However, the group plans to appeal the decision.

On a more positive note, in November Swatch announced plans to partner with Visa to develop a smartwatch which can be used to pay for goods. The ‘pay-by-the-wrist’ Swatch Bellamy is slated to launch in early 2016.

But this is only the start as Bloomberg reported that the watchmaker has 173 patents ready to roll out over the next few years.

(43)  Saad Hariri - $2 bn
Industry: Construction
Country: Lebanon

Saad Hariri is a Lebanese-Saudi billionaire who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 until 2011. He is the second son of Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2005. Raised in Saudi Arabia, Hariri graduated from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington DC and managed part of his father’s business until he moved into politics. He is now general manager of Saudi Oger, the family’s $9bn construction company headquartered in Riyadh and continues to build up the business.

He also holds stakes in other large firms including Solidere, the contractor that has rebuilt much of Beirut. The Oger Telecommunications subsidiary provides telecoms services across Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and South Africa but it was sold to Saudi Telecom Company (STC) for a reported $2.56bn in 2008. Hariri is married with three children and has lived between Paris and Jeddah since 2011. He is reportedly friends with former French president Jacques Chirac and lives in a Paris apartment owned by the Hariri family.

(45) Fouad Makhzoumi - $2 bn
Industry: Diversified
Country: Lebanon

Fouad Makhzoumi has been executive chairman of UAE-based pipe manufacturing and trading business Future Pipe Industries Group since 2003. He is also the executive chairman of parent company Future Group Holdings since 1982. The Lebanese-born billionaire was educated at the International College in Beirut and obtained degrees in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University in the US. Under his leadership, the Future Pipe Industries Group has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of composite pipe systems with subsidiaries in four continents.

Through Future Group Holdings, Makhzoumi also oversees a diverse portfolio of investments in sectors spanning engineering, industrial, research, real estate, security, information, multimedia and publishing. Together, these companies employ more than 5,000 people across the world. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy in 2013, and received the Socrates Oxford Annual Award for 2014 by the European Business Assembly in Vienna, among other accolades. In 1997, he founded the Makhzoumi Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that provides vocational training, healthcare and micro-credit to disadvantaged people in Lebanon

(46) Robert Mouawad - $2 bn
Industry: Retail
Country: Lebanon

The third generation boss of luxury jewellery retailer Mouawad, Robert Mouawad handed over the reins of the family business to his sons Fred and Pascal in 2010. As CEO, the Lebanese diamond dealer took the decision in the early 1970s to expand the business from a firm of luxury watchmakers, established in Beirut by his grandfather in 1890, to fine jewellery.

Since then, he has collected and designed jewellery that has been worn by celebrities from Angelina Jolie to Gisele Bundchen. The company’s first store in the Gulf opened in Dubai Mall in November 2010 and it has a total of 20 stores across the Middle East, Asia, Switzerland and Los Angeles. Many in the industry claim the Mouawad gem collection is one of the finest in the world - it includes the L’Incomparable diamond necklace, which contains a $55m flawless centerpiece diamond.

Mouawad left the company to focus on his real estate group, the Robert Mouawad Foundation, and his museum. He owns an extensive property portfolio that includes the Hôtel de Vendôme in Paris, the Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat on France’s Cote d’Azur, and the Roumieh Palace in Lebanon. He is currently developing luxury homes on Reef Island in Bahrain, where he resides.

Here's the complete list of World's 50 Richest Arabs for the year 2016.