Pakistan's richest man in his first foreign interview: Mian Mansha, Nishat group

"My net worth is around $4 to $5 billion"

A tale is often told of Mansha’s reaction to the successful sale by MCB of $150 million-worth of global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange in October 2006. Nishat Group having become the first Pakistani corporate to sell GDRs on the main London bourse, some younger MCB executives took the attitude: "We’ve done well, got the offering away, so now it’s time to party."

An official who was present says Mansha quickly squashed the idea. "I heard him tell his young bloods: ‘All we’ve done is to sell some paper – now we need to prove to our shareholders that we know what to do with it.’ 

Mian Mansha owns one of the best banks in Asia but his ambitions reach much further. His empire incorporates insurance, cement, textiles, infrastructure and power generation. In his first-ever interview with the foreign media, he tells Elliot Wilson of his plans to list his holding company on the London Stock Exchange within the next two years, and expand across Asia into the Middle East, emerging Europe and beyond.