The purchase of Interloop Asset Management in December 2024 marked an unexpected return of industry stalwart Mohammad Shoaib – who was previously the founder CEO at Al Meezan Investment Management.
In an interview with IFN Investor, Mohammad Shoaib said leaving Al Meezan on the 1st March 2024, supposedly retiring after 29 years at the former firm’s helm, was due to an irresistible challenge dangled by Pakistan manufacturing conglomerate Yunus Brothers (YB) Holdings.
“YB Holdings can trace its origins back to 1929 and the group is very deeply rooted in in Pakistan. Its multiple businesses are manufacturing concerns and the owners wanted to diversify into financial services, which they never ventured into before.”
Mohammad Shoaib explained YB Holdings wanted in-house management for the investment of cash flows, rather than paying for the services of external fund managers. The discussions led to a deal formalized by August 2024 for Mohammad Shoaib to get a 30:70 stake in the venture.
“While I was advising them, I realized that instead of setting up a new company, it is better to go for an acquisition. I knew of Interloop Asset Management, which was an existing fund company, but it was dormant. We saved on the cost and the time of setting up and then acquiring the license. In Pakistan, and I’m sure in other emerging markets as well, this can be a long process.”
Declining to reveal the purchase price, Mohammad Shoaib said the Interloop firm is to be renamed Lucky Investments. A rebranding will take place only sometime in the new year as Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan regulations stipulate that the new owners must maintain the acquired firm’s identity for at least 90 days.
“We have not taken over employees, assets or any mutual funds. So, it’s a rebirth of the same company, but with a more ambitious mandate of reaching out to all potential investors and not just managing the cash flow investment needs of YB Holdings.”
Being the first Islamic asset management firm not owned by a bank or financial services provider, Mohammad Shoaib acknowledged a huge challenge ahead. The new Lucky firm is disadvantaged as banks have a big distribution and branches network they can capitalize on to promote their products.
“We are going to rely on digital distribution as Pakistan has a very young population, where 65% is under 30 years of age and it is estimated there are about 80 million active smartphones. But the number of investors in mutual funds is small, with a total of just about 650,000.”
Another potential that Lucky Investments will be looking to tap will be the Raast instant payment system – which the State Bank of Pakistan said is to overcome the “challenges of low interoperability, high cost, poor user experience and lack of security in the payment ecosystem”.
Mohammad Shoaib said this platform’s investments facility, expected become operational in Q3 2025 and likely with Shariah compliance, will be “a game-changer as practically the entire spectrum of investors is then our universe, if they have a banking relationship with any of the 32 banks in Pakistan”.
