Seth Abid and Khawaja Hamid Saeed, once considered to be arch rivals, have merged their groups to contest the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE)-2005 from one platform. The representatives of both the groups after detailed discussions on various issues in a meeting held at Lahore Gymkhana on Saturday night decided to form a united group to contest the election, to be held on December 18, 2004, sources told Business Recorder on Sunday.
According them, the panel to contest election from the united group comprises Gulfam Ahmad Khan Sherwani, Syed Muhammad Ismail Abbasi, Engineer Mazhar Rafiq, Arif Majeed Chaudhry and Wasiullah Khan.
According to the sources the meeting also discussed the role of the Board members during 2004 in relation to protection of interests of the stakeholders in particular and decision making for the collective interests of the market in general.
After detailed deliberations, it was decided as elected members of the board could not come up to the expectations of the LSE members in 2004 and remained under the influence of the non-member board directors so competent and committed people should be given chance during 2005.
It was also resolved in the meeting that to get the united panel succeeded in the election, collective efforts will be made so that after being elected they could work in interest of the members and betterment of the exchange.
Former chairmen and vice chairmen of the exchange including Gp Captain Naeem A Khan (Retd), Mirza Sher Dill, Habibullah Sheikh, Dr Arsalan and a number of senior brokers of the exchange attended the meeting.
According to market pundits, after formation of formation of the united group Syed Asim Zafar who is a candidate for re-election of Chairman of the exchange will be in trouble.
To give tough time to his rival group he will have to make extra efforts. However if he succeeds in winning the support of Karachi-based who could play a decisive role in election, his positions could improve, they added.