Mr Raashid Anwer > Khalid Anwer & Co. > Karachi, Pakistan > Lawyer Profile

Mr Raashid Anwer

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Position

Managing Partner

Career

Mr. Raashid Anwer is the Managing Partner of the firm.He has graduated from Cornell University and his experience of appearing before the Superior Courts of Pakistan spans almost a decade and a half. He deals, inter alia, in civil, commercial, constitutional, tax, labour and employment matters. Mr. Raashid Anwer has, inter alia, appeared before the Superior Courts in the following high-profile matters:

(a) He appeared for Allied Bank Limited before the Sindh High Court and was able to persuade the Hon’ble Court to execute a Judgment / Decree in favour of the Bank for an amount of Rs. 2.4 Billion by ordering the sale of the assets of the Judgment-Debtor. This, in monetary terms, is, quite probably, the largest judgment ever given in favour of a financial institution by the Sindh High Court.

(b) He is currently representing several of the leading cement manufacturing companies (including Lucky Cement and D.G. Khan Cement which are the two largest cement manufacturers in Pakistan) before the Lahore High Court against the decision of the Competition Commission of Pakistan to impose a fine of over Rs. 3 Billion against some of our clients.

(c) He appeared on behalf of the downstream value added textile sector in Writ Petitions filed before the Lahore High Court by the exporters of cotton yarn against the quotas imposed by the Government of Pakistan on the export of cotton yarn and successfully persuaded the High Court to uphold the restrictions imposed by the Government.

(d) He is also appearing for a leading foreign steel company (i.e. Al-Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited) which is setting up a $200 Million steel project in relation to a writ petition filed by the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation in which they have sought to restrain the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation from supplying 180 MW of electricity to our client (who will then become the single largest electricity consumer in the entire country).

(e) He is currently representing the National Industrial Parks Development and Management Company as well as its parent institution the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) in three very hotly contested suits in the Sindh High Court. The cases involve title to a very large piece of land situated right at the entrance of the planned Industrial Park located in Korangi, Karachi. It may be noted that the total estimated cost of developing this Industrial Park is approximately Three Billion Rupees.

Mr. Raashid Anwer has, inter alia, been involved in the following advisory/ transactional work as well:

(a) He has advised clients on a wide range of corporate issues including privatisation projects, joint venture agreements, mergers/acquisitions and other complex commercial transactions as well. Clients whom he has advised and/or represented in Court (on behalf of our Firm) include Procter and Gamble, Gillette, Schlumberger, Toyota, Rolls Royce, Novartis, EMC, AIG/New Hampshire Insurance Company, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Karachi Stock Exchange, the Central Depository Company, three out of the five largest Pakistani commercial banks (National Bank, MCB Bank and Allied Bank), the three largest textile groups in Pakistan (Nishat Mills, Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Sapphire Textile Mills), the two largest cement companies in Pakistan (Lucky Cement and D.G. Khan Cement), PTCL and the two major players in the cellular phone market (Mobilink and Ufone). He has also advised clients in relation to various aspects of project finance and/or restructuring including (but not limited to) representing the Lender of Davis Powergen Ltd. which is an IPP being set up in Jhang, Punjab.

(b) He has also advised clients in relation to various aspects of project finance and/or restructuring including representing the Lenders of Davis Powergen Ltd. which is an IPP being set up in Jhang, Punjab as well as advising the acquirers of the two AES power plants in Pakistan.

(c) He had earlier advised the purchasers of AES Pak-Gen Ltd well.

(d) He has advised the Dewan Group in its negotiations with the Steering Committee set up by the State Bank to deal with the largest bank default in Pakistan’s history.

(e) He has advised on the merger of the Asset Management Companies of MCB Bank and Arif Habib Investments, and the corporate restructuring (involving both mergers as well as demergers) of a number of large corporate groups including the Sapphire Group and the IBL Group.

(f) He has also advised the Government of Pakistan (as well as several trade associations) in relation to international trade issues vis a vis the European Union. In 2005, he was requested to accompany (and brief) the Pakistani Prime Minister prior to his negotiations in Brussels for accession to the European Union’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme. In addition, he has also been asked to make presentations at several bilateral meetings between the Government of Pakistan and the British Department of Trade & Industry as well the Italian Trade Ministry.

(g) He has also successfully represented the largest Pakistani exporters in Anti-Dumping cases initiated by the European Commission in relation to Bed-linen, P.E.T. and Ethyl-Alcohol.

(h) He has also represented Pakistani exporters in relation to safeguard measures sought to be imposed by the Turkish Government in relation to the import of fabrics and garments.

(i) He developed (on a pro bono basis) the basic proposals for the Ministry of Law, Government of Pakistan for submission to the Asian Development Bank for reforms to the judicial sector under the Access to Justice Program.

(j) He also frequently advise on an on-going basis both the Karachi Stock Exchange and the Central Depository Company of Pakistan (CDC) on various regulatory issues both with their own regulator (i.e. the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan) as well as with their regulatees (i.e. stock brokers and Issuers/participants in the Central Depository System).

Languages

English and Urdu

Memberships

Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, Sindh High Court Bar Association of Pakistan, and Karachi Bar Association