Pakistan is an easier place to invest than its reputation suggests, and a harder place to recover money from if the paperwork was careless. We act for foreign companies and individual investors on entry structure, incorporation, contracts and the due diligence that ought to happen before capital moves.
Most of the foreign-investment problems we are asked to fix were created at the start. A local partner was trusted without a shareholders' agreement. A distribution arrangement was papered by email. Land was bought on the strength of a document nobody independently checked. Money was advanced before the entity receiving it legally existed.
None of that is unique to Pakistan; what is different is how much longer it takes to unwind. The entry structure, the contracts and the title checks are cheap at the beginning and expensive later, and that is really the whole of our advice to inbound investors.
Pakistan's framework is reasonably accommodating. Foreign investment is protected by statute, full foreign ownership is permitted in most sectors, and companies are incorporated with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The questions worth spending time on are which vehicle suits your plan, how your relationship with any local partner is documented, and whether the assets you are buying are what they appear to be.
Subsidiary, branch or liaison office — each has different permissions, tax consequences and limits on what it may actually do. Choosing wrongly is a costly thing to reverse.
Company formation with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, constitutional documents, and the registrations that follow.
Control, deadlock, reserved matters, profit distribution and exit. The document you hope never to need is the one that decides what happens when the relationship fails.
Distribution, agency, supply, manufacturing and services agreements governed by Pakistani law — drafted to be enforceable here, not merely signed here.
Independent title and land-record verification before you buy or lease. This is the single check that most often changes a client's mind.
Employment documentation, and the sector approvals and registrations your particular activity requires.
Litigation, arbitration and enforcement when a commercial relationship in Pakistan breaks down.
Do not worry if you are missing some of these — bring what you have. Part of our job is obtaining the rest.
Full foreign ownership is permitted in most sectors, with certain regulated sectors carrying their own conditions or approval requirements. Which rules apply depends on the specific activity, so the sector question needs answering before the structure is fixed.
A subsidiary is a Pakistani company, separate from its parent, able to trade in its own right. A branch carries on the parent's business in Pakistan within the scope of its permission. A liaison office is the most restricted — broadly for representation and coordination rather than commercial activity. Registering a liaison office and then trading through it is a common and avoidable mistake.
The SECP process for a straightforward company is not lengthy. Timelines extend where sector approvals, branch or liaison permissions, or foreign documentation requiring attestation are involved. We give an indicative timetable once the structure is settled.
Not generally as a matter of law, though many investors want one commercially. If you take one, the relationship should be documented properly from the outset — most of the disputes we are asked to resolve arise from partnerships that were never written down.
Yes, and we would encourage it. Independent verification of the land record and title chain, carried out by lawyers acting only for you, is inexpensive relative to the purchase and is the check that most often uncovers a problem.
Tell us the situation and we will tell you honestly where you stand — whether or not you go on to instruct us. Everything you share is confidential.