TRG: The company we built, and what it has delivered

The Resource Group has issued a press statement in response to an article published earlier on Dawn.com, in which two of its co-founders — Mohammed Khaishgi and Hasnain Aslam — have presented their perspective on the company’s legal saga over the last several years. The statement details the governance protections put in place to protect TRG and sets out the co-founders’ rationale for the decisions taken during this period.

The full text of the statement is reproduced verbatim below.

We founded The Resource Group (TRG) in 2002 with a simple conviction: that Pakistan deserved a seat at the table as technology services went global. Over two decades later, the platform we built is one of the most consequential things either of us will do in our careers.

We are writing this article in our own names because the public conversation around TRG has centred on one man — former CEO and co-founder Zia Chishti — and his takeover attempts. Our former colleague may no longer have any material ownership at the company after JS Bank claimed to have acquired a batch of his shares through the enforcement of security, bringing Mr Chishti’s stake in TRG Pakistan down to 1.2 per cent.

Whether or not that marks the end of the takeover campaign is unclear; its public face may just keep changing. We believe the company itself, and how it has held together through this period, warrants closer attention.

What the platform looks like today

TRG International is the holding company for our global assets. Its shareholders include TRG Pakistan Limited (PSX: TRG), the publicly listed company through which Pakistani investors have participated in our portfolio since 2003.

Our portfolio companies, led by Nasdaq-listed Ibex, employ nearly 40,000 people globally and over 10,000 in Pakistan — double from four years ago and on track to reach 15,000 in two years. IT services exports from our Pakistan portfolio run at around $100 million annually, with cumulative exports approaching $1 billion since inception.

Since December 2021, nearly $100 million has flowed to TRG Pakistan shareholders under our management, as compared to $15 million during Mr Chishti’s leadership. This is what the numbers show.

A brief history of TRG

When TRG International was founded in 2002, all three of its co-founders received roughly equal equity of around 5pc each — a deliberate governance choice with no controlling shareholder.

Over the following decade, TRG International raised approximately $100 million and deployed it across its portfolio. Ibex and eTelequote received about $50 million, while Afiniti, the AI call-routing venture started by Mr Chishti, received the remaining nearly $50 million. Led by the two of us, Ibex completed a successful Nasdaq IPO in August 2020 and eTelequote was sold in July 2021, collectively yielding over $500 million to TRG — a tenfold return that pushed TRG Pakistan’s stock price to record highs in 2021.

The results we describe in this piece reflect the work of our portfolio teams — focused on clients, revenues, margins, and lenders — not the influence of any single individual at the top.

Meanwhile, Mr Chishti concentrated on Afiniti. Under his leadership, Afiniti built a capable product but also accumulated approximately $500 million in debt, sustaining monthly cash losses exceeding $10 million at the time of Mr Chishti’s resignation. The company’s cost base was not supported by its revenues. TRG investors have received no material financial return from Afiniti to date.

What happened in 2021

In 2017, a 23-year-old Afiniti employee, Tatiana Spottiswoode, accused Mr Chishti of sexual misconduct and assault. A US arbitrator issued a final ruling in April 2019, resulting in a damages award against Mr Chishti exceeding $4.5 million, including punitive damages.

In November 2021, the existence of this arbitration award became public when Ms Spottiswoode testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Congress, which put pressure on some major Afiniti clients to dissociate from Mr Chishti and his businesses. In an earnings call at the time, Ibex clearly distanced itself from Mr Chishti, while David Cameron and Admiral Mike Mullen resigned from Afiniti’s advisory board.

Around the same time, Mr Chishti resigned.

Last four years: what TRG delivered

Since 2021, Ibex’s Nasdaq share price has more than doubled, revenues have increased by nearly 50pc, and earnings have nearly quadrupled. Pakistani headcount across the portfolio has doubled to approximately 10,000. We successfully completed a landmark restructuring of Afiniti’s unsustainable debt in 2024, with TRG retaining a significant equity position.

Since December 2021, nearly $100 million has been remitted to TRG Pakistan shareholders — the first material remittance to local public investors in the company’s history.

Much of this was delivered by the same team that was simultaneously defending the platform against a takeover battle launched by Mr Chishti within mere weeks of his departure.

The dispute, in brief

In December 2021, governance protections were put in place that, among other things, insulated the operating businesses from reputational damage tied to a possible return to influence by Mr Chishti. He effectively agreed to these protections when, in January 2022, he received more than $60 million from TRG International in a share redemption and signed a release agreement waiving all claims against TRG and its affiliates.

Despite the terms of the release agreement, Mr Chishti filed shareholder-oppression claims in Pakistan and elsewhere.

The Sindh High Court ruled in Mr Chishti’s favour in June 2025, voiding a shareholding block representing approximately $90 million of foreign investment in TRG Pakistan. TRG Pakistan, TRG International and Greentree Holdings (whose shareholding had been voided) all appealed; the Supreme Court dismissed those appeals by short order in May 2026, with a detailed ruling to follow.

The next day, however, a New York court ruled that Mr Chishti’s pre-January 10, 2022 claims had been released and could not be adjudicated in any forum.

The following week, JS Bank disclosed it had acquired most of Mr Chishti’s pledged TRG Pakistan shares after he defaulted in early 2025 on a Rs2.59 billion loan.

The governance protections from 2021 were designed to address reputational risk regardless of the vehicle through which it might return.

Public records show Mr Chishti was involved in multiple lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions. Major US and Bermuda proceedings have run heavily against him. His only significant favourable result has been in Pakistan, where a United States federal court’s subsequent ruling suggests he had released (and was thus barred from pursuing) most of those claims.

What is actually at stake

For a global technology platform, reputation affects core operations. Clients, employees, lenders, and public-market investors treat the arbitration findings against Mr Chishti as a governance risk, and respond to it accordingly.

TRG’s current operations — including roughly 10,000 jobs in Pakistan, approximately $100 million in annual IT exports, and the first material returns to TRG Pakistan shareholders in two decades — depend on the continued confidence of blue-chip global clients. That confidence is not unconditional, which is why the governance question has practical consequences.

Mr Chishti has been the originator of several significant business ideas. A recurring feature of his career, however, has been departure from those ventures amid disputes — in the boardroom, the courtroom, or both. That pattern, and its consequences, is part of the record shareholders and clients must weigh.

The court rulings in Pakistan, New York, and Bermuda are public, as are the arbitration awards, shareholder remittances, and other materials referenced above. We encourage readers to review that record directly.

Disclaimer: The views and assertions in this article are solely those of TRG cofounders Mohammed Khaishgi and Hasnain Aslam. Dawn does not endorse these views or assertions or vouches for their accuracy or truthfulness. This article has been published solely to give the authors an opportunity to respond to an earlier article on Dawn.com. ...