Who Owns Pakistan - Yimg

Chapter Two - Who owns Pakistan?
Corporate Quiz
Who owns Dentonic Limited. First company to be incorporated in
Pakistan in 1947?
They are Pakistan's super-rich, popularly known as the 22 families and their
names, the Saigols, Dawoods, Habibs, Adamjees, Bawany, Hashwani, Sharifs of
Ittefaq and Sheikhs of the Colony group are synonymous with enormous wealth
and unbounded pelf.
There are two sets of the 22 families, the original 22 and the 22 families of the
present era including unknown or little known Sargodha and United groups, the
Chakwal group, Gulistan-Saphire, Rupali and Fazalsons.
On Dec 1, 1995, the top 43 groups owned 212 of the 522 non-financial
companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) accounting for 43% of the
total manufacturing assets, exclusive of the multinationals and the public sector
enterprises. Out of 175 listed banking companies, modarabas, leasing and
financial companies, 76 belonged these groups.
Their power was clustered in textile, sugar, cement, insurance, banks and
modarabas while almost all the newly listed captive power plants belonged to
these groups. Together they owned at least 122 textile mills, 19 sugar mills, eight
cement plants, 12 insurance companies, 11 banks, 16 modorabas, eight leasing
companies and seven power plants.
Like sheep these families have followed each other, one poineering an industry
and the other smelling profits coming on its heels. Last such fad was modaraba
and the latest example of sheep-flocking has taken place in the power generation
in which Mian Mansha was first to move and now almost every big group has its
own captive power plant or has one on the anvil.
These groups own assets worth Rs 408 billion on KSE but what they own on the
stock exchange is only a tip of the iceberg because in addition to the listed
companies they own at least 370 unlisted public and private limited companies
whose assets and turnover is not known accurately even to the Corporate Law
Authority. A fair estimate of these assets would be Rs 500-600 billion for the
following reasons.
A committee headed by former finance secretary H U Beg had found in
1993 that 38 groups in Pakistan were controlling assets worth Rs 380
billion. Like so many other reports of committees and commissions
appointed from time to time in the past, the report of this committee has
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