Engro: End of an era

Last week Engro Corporation CEO and President Asad Umar opted for early retirement from the Company, where he spent last 27 years, to pursue his ambitions in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Almost immediately, rumour mills started churning out names of likely candidates to replace him at the Company.
And after the news of the resignation of Khalid Mansoor surfaced early on Tuesday, speculation was rife that Engro Corporation CFO Ruhail Muhammad would likely step in to replace Asad Umar.
The hallmark of Engro: its management owned and run model appears to be relegating fast to history. When Hussain Dawood increased his shareholding in the national conglomerate, independent observers suspected a hostile takeover in the works.
Although it is not exactly clear how things played out, still it seems that the A-Team that was instrumental in the exponential growth of this Company has finally lost its turf.
While Asad Umars exit has been much talked about, the departure of Khalid Mansoor is also a significant happening in this Companys story. KM was the brain behind Engro Power gen and was spearheading the Companys venture into Thar Coal, besides serving as the chief executive of Engro Fertiliser.
Asad Umar has attributed his sacrifice to a bigger, national calling. Khalid Mansoor cited personal reasons in his resignation. But when the dust settles, the Engro Team will be missing two key individuals in the companys transition from Exxon to Engo. Something is amiss.
After all, these were the guys that differentiated Engro from all other companies in the country, whose bold decisions took it, where no Pakistani conglomerate had gone before. Starting tomorrow the Companys senior management will be quite different.
This diatribe does not wish to rain on the parade of the incoming chief executive; who is known for his astuteness. Muhammad Aliuddin Ansari has had an impressive career, having served as manager WorldInvest/Bank of America in London and as CEO of AKD Securities, besides serving on the boards of the KSE, NCCPL, Lucky Cement and Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC). He has also been a member of the board of directors of Engro Corporation since 2009.
Besides Asad Umar, Khalid Mansoor and others who have built the Company over the past three decades have brought it to a point where it is too big and institutionalised to falter simply due to a change at the top.
Still their rather hurried exits will cause more than just ripples. Besides the sad faces at the Companys head office in Karachi, investors are also likely to take a long, hard look at the same issues that may have gone unnoticed thus far. Aliuddin Ansari will have to work hard to convince outsiders, but the first task at hand, appears to be winning the hearts and minds of his own team.