A seller of optimism.

Byline: Kazim Alam

In the absence of a Forbes-like list for Pakistani billionaires, political influence becomes a good proxy for assessing a businessman's true station in society.

A toehold in the 'establishment' goes a longer way in Pakistan than a few extra billions tucked away in a bank account.

No wonder that the debate following the army chief's meeting with a select group of businessmen earlier this month was centred more on the guest list than the actual points of discussion.

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Admission to the Woodstock of Corporate Pakistan was by invitation only. Poor Abdul Razak Dawood had to fend off calls for his ouster by the country's apex body of businessmen because he could not get the chamber's president a seat at the high table.

One of the 20-odd invitees was Arif Habib, a stockbroker-turned-industrialist who runs a conglomerate of eight listed companies with interests in steel, cement, energy, financial services, fertiliser and real estate development.

'The army chief himself decided who should attend the meeting. He understands the economy very well,' says Mr Habib, adding that former ICI Pakistan CEO Waqar Malik has been advising the army chief on economic matters.

So how much net worth a businessman should have for him to be a part of that exclusive club?

It's hard to say because only a fraction of total assets are listed on the stock exchange to be valued accurately, according to Mr Habib.

'There are about 50 to 100 people who own listed assets and are considered serious players,' he says. He was tight-lipped about his own net worth, saying it was 'confidential'.

The balance-sheet size of his holding company - Arif Habib Corporation - is Rs38.6 billion, latest regulatory filings show. Compared with other celebrated business houses, the group's holding company is no Fort Knox of capital it's sometimes made out to be.

The value of his company's total shares is a little over Rs10bn, which is barely 0.7 per cent of the overall market capitalisation.

That's because Mr Habib, by his own account, prefers to keep many assets out of his holding company to save on taxes.

'I made the holding company when I was young and needed recognition.

I needed a strong balance sheet to borrow funds on its basis and do new projects,' he says.

But the structure of holding companies in Pakistan is 'tax-inefficient'. The government first collects taxes on dividends that...