(Bloomberg) -- Engro Corp., a leading Pakistani conglomerate, is looking to do more investment deals in other developing countries after decades running businesses from fertilizer and food to electricity and gas at home.

The group aims to have a couple of overseas operations in developing countries over the next five years, Abdul Samad Dawood, vice chair of Engro’s investment arm and a director at Engro, said in an interview in Karachi. The process is in early stages and could include taking control of some of the companies, Dawood said. 

The investments will have “a very Berkshire Hathaway-esque sort of an approach,” he said, referring to the US conglomerate’s approach of taking stakes in companies. The group will also look at deals in Pakistan outside its conventional businesses.

“We’re pushing our team that ‘yes, invest in Pakistan, but if we don’t go global now, or make that attempt to go global and go to other countries, when are we gonna do it?” said Dawood. 

Engro is one of Pakistan’s largest business groups by market value and includes dairy production, an LNG terminal and telecom towers. It has foreign partners including the Dutch dairy group FrieslandCampina and tank terminal operator Royal Vopak. 

Dawood, who’s been involved in deals worth over $4 billion for the conglomerate, now sees opportunities in developing regions including Africa and central Asia where countries need more mobile towers and energy security.    

Engro’s revenue rose 35% to 482 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) last year. It has some of the largest cash and short-term investments among companies in Pakistan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While Engro sold its coal mining and electricity business last month, Dawood still sees new investment opportunities in energy locally amid a bigger opening to the private sector.

Pakistan will need more LNG as local gas production is dropping, he said, and Engro sees an opportunity to increase handling capacity at its LNG terminal. The conglomerate is already working with the government to make the industry more open and enable the private sector to lock in gas deals directly with users. 

The group’s Dawood Hercules Corp, which currently holds 40% of Engro, have struck an initial agreement this week to make Engro its wholly owned subsidiary. Dawood is being re-branded as Engro Holdings Ltd., and Engro Corp.’s minority shareholders will become shareholders of Engro Holdings in a ratio that preserves their ownership. 

The structure will create a freer flow of capital between the companies, Dawood said.

Shares of Dawood Hercules have risen about 60% this year. 

Dawood Hercules was instrumental in exploring Pakistan’s coal reserves, one of the largest lignite coal deposits globally and an ambitious project part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. It also set up the nation’s first liquefied natural gas terminal that supplies 15% of Pakistan’s gas requirements.

The group will continue to look to home even as it explores opportunities in other regions, Dawood added, with the investment size for deals potentially larger in Pakistan since there are opportunities across multiple industries.

--With assistance from Peter Vercoe.

(Updates throughout.)

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