Asian Rich List Abdul Bhatti 27= Fakruddin Suterwalla and family Abdul Bhatti & family Cash and Carry £225m p£45m A DIRECTOR of the cash and carry firm Best- way (run by Sir Anwar Pervez), Abdul Bhatti has been one of the pivotal figures behind the success of the group. Slightly unusual in that he had a substantial career in retailing before working at the firm’s first ever depot in Acton, west London, Bhatti is now one of a handful of operations execu- tives who keep Bestway ticking over nicely. There was a stint managing the depot in Southall as the business really began to take off, and since 1996 he has been based in the central buying office at the company’s head- quarters in Park Royal. A trustee of the Bestway Foundation, the group’s charity arm, Bhatti has also been in- volved in helping communities in both Brit- ain and Pakistan. Today, Bestway is now a diversified group with interests in cement and banking in Paki- stan. We value Abdul Bhatti and his family at £225 million. 27= Adalat & Arshad Chaudhary Cash and Carry £225m p£45m A SCHOOLFRIEND of Sir Anwar Pervez, Adalat Chaudhary is one of the handful of people behind Bestway and therefore a pio- neer of the cash and carry sector. Like Abdul Bhatti, Adalat was involved with the first depot in Acton and was their general manager before moving to the Abbey Road de- pot, the largest of its kind in Western Europe. Chaudhary takes credit for creating and op- erating the central ordering department which has been such a feature of the compa- ny’s success. He has also been involved in charity projects in both the UK and Pakistan. Adalat’s son Arshad is also a director of Bestway, having served in a number of de- partments from general manager to central purchasing. A graduate of the Henley College of Management, he joined his father in the business in 1984. Arshad served as a director of Bestway Cement, one of the largest cement producers in Pakistan. We value Adalat and Arshad at £225 million. 31= Fakruddin Suterwalla & family Food manufacturing and wholesale £175m p£55m THIS year marks the 54th anniversary of TRS, one of the most popular Indian food product companies in Britain. The Suterwalla family have stamped their identity on the wholesaling business which has grown from a single outlet in Southall to 250,000 sq ft state-of-the-art manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and distribution cen- tres in Southall and Leyton. The family is one of the pioneers of Indian food and wholesaling in Britain. Today the company serves Asian communities in the whole of the UK, Continental Europe, Scandi- navia, USA and Russia, highlighting the de- mand of TRS products on an international 31= Pradip & Manish Dhamecha Cash and Carry £175mp£35m THE Dhamecha family has built up a signifi- cant cash and carry business, which is today one the largest in the English capital. The business was founded by Khodidasbhai Dhamecha and his brothers in 1976 from a single depot in Wembley, serving the growing but significant Asian retail community. Since then, the Dhamecha Group has grown to be one of the biggest and most en- terprising cash and carry groups in the coun- try. The company opened their seventh depot in Lewisham earlier this year, a purpose-built warehouse serving retailers and caterers in south London. As the biggest part of the Today buying consortium, the group has amassed consider- able market power and is the largest whole- sale buying group in Europe. This gives them more market clout and has led to a thriving export business in addition to the strengths of their cash and carry trade at home. The Dhamecha Export Division started as something of an offshoot but has developed its own identity and can offer expertise on more scale. The business is run by the Suterwalla brothers Fakruddin, Hatim, Siraj, Mansoor and Iqbal the five sons of Taherally Rehmanji Suterwalla, the original founder of TRS. The company has a wide range of Indian food lines which have traditionally been the mainstay of Asian grocers, but now you can see them in droves in big supermarket chains such as Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. In total, TRS makes more than 900 whole- sale lines offered in retail and bulk packs. The range includes chick peas, lentils, rice, spices, nuts, pickles, chutneys, poppadoms and all staples of Indian cooking. The group’s two cash and carry depots serve retailers and ca- terers in west and east London. Turnover at TRS Group has been steady at £120 million, with an operating profit of £10m. The company has strong assets, which we val- ue, along with the family’s significant stake in the Bombay Halwa business, at £175m. than 250,000 major branded products.Today’s Retail Group allows traders to join an advan- ced loyalty programme where a retailer will of- fer improved terms on products, but insist the stores run three-weekly national promotions and support the brand in their shop during that period. It has proved highly effective. The Group prides itself on levels of service throughout its seven depots across London. The Lewisham depot now supports those in Wembley, Barking, Enfield, Croydon, Watford, and Hayes. The vast majority of its customers come from the independent grocery sector, but there are also other businesses which benefit from the Dhamecha ethos, including caterers and clubs. The business is now headed by Khodidasb- hai’s son Pradip, a chartered accountant by training, who runs the company with his cousin Manish and brother-in-law Mukesh Vithlani. Today, the Dhamecha cash and carry group serves 13,000 regular customers and has over 600 staff. The family are generous contributors to charity, last year donating over £300,000. Dha- mecha Holdings saw strong turnover growth to £565 million for the year ending March 2012, delivering an EBITDA of £14.3m. Taking into account freeholds and other assets, we value the family at £175m. March 2013 | Eastern Eye Asian Rich List | 49