AKD Group is a Pakistani

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

conglomerate based in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Pakistan. In 2013,

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described it as "one of Pakistan's largest domestic conglomerates" and ''

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'' described it as one of Pakistan's largest corporations. In 2018, ''Dawn'' described it as a "capital market giant," while that same year the UK's ''

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'' described it as "leading Pakistani securities firm." The group operates in real estate,

brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

and financial services, infrastructure, natural resources and telecom sectors, including with its brokerage arm, investment house AKD Securities, which in 2002 launched the first online brokerage firm in Pakistan, AKD Trade. AKD Group's chairman is Aqeel Karim Dhedhi.

History

AKD Group was founded in 1947 by Abdul Karim Dhedhi, father of the current chairman. It began business in 1973 as a brokerage house before expanding into investment banking and mutual funds. The group also sponsors sporting events as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In 2007, the group explored investing in four coal-fired power plants, but their initial offer was declined due to the fact that, though financial capacity was present, they lacked the technical ability to assure success. In 2011, ADK Group was committed to the development of the Gwadar port and naval base, but was permitted to pull out of the arrangement alongside their partners, the

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and the National Logistics Cell because 584 acres at the mouth of the port necessary for the development were not surrendered as expected by the

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Qur'an, 3:173'') , type ...

. In 2015, the company was among the first in Pakistan to create a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

(REIT) management unit in response to easing of governmental regulations on investor ratios to create a trust to support the ongoing construction of the Arkadians. Arkadians is a 43-acre high-rise residential property that the ADK Group had been developing on behalf of the Defense Housing Authority at least since 2012. In March 2018, The

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly ( ur, , translit=Aiwān-e-Zairīñ, , or ur, قومی اسمبلی, romanized: ''Qaumi Assembly'') is the lower legislative house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, which also comprises the Senate of Pakistan (upp ...

Standing Committee on Housing and Works praised the leadership of Dhedhi and the supervision of the AKD Group's CEO Ayesha Dhedhi in the quality construction of government accommodations to National Assembly members in the project. The Group has experienced some controversy. In 2013, AKD Group came under scrutiny under allegations of insider trading when it, along with other traders, invested in the Sui Southern Gas Co. owned by the Pakistan government just before the gas company's prices went up. In 2017, three of the company's top officials were arrested during a raid of the company for investigation into possible fraud related to the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution. In August 2018, AKD was cleared for lack of evidence, with a federal report titled "False implication of AKD Securities in EOBI scandal." During the investigation, the three officials remained jailed for months.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.akdsecurities.net/ Conglomerate companies of Pakistan 1947 establishments in Pakistan Conglomerate companies established in 1947 Companies based in Karachi