75,000 jobs to go in mining’s new phase

Original article by Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 21-22 : 2-Jul-14

Justin Fabo, senior economist corporate and commercial at ANZ Banking, predicts the Australian resources and related services sector to shed up to 75,000 jobs by 2016. This would be a decline of 28%, and result from the transition from the construction to production phase at many mining and energy projects. Already, over-capacity in the market has brought redundancies at coal and iron ore operation. Fabo stresses that out of the 75,000 workers affected, a large share will be temporary migrants, and that these will simply return home rather than add to the nation’s unemployment rate

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN WORKFORCE AND PRODUCTIVITY AGENCY

Leighton slims down in $1.5b sell-off

Original article by Jenny Wiggins, Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 13-Jun-14

Australian-listed construction group Leighton Holdings will undertake a restructuring that is expected to include asset sales. The John Holland construction business is one of the assets that could be sold, with expectations that it could fetch around $A1bn. Leighton’s services businesses could also be offloaded, while the future of its property assets are also believed to be under scrutiny. Leighton currently has five operating businesses, but these will be reduced to four as part of the restructure

CORPORATES
LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LEI, JOHN HOLLAND PTY LTD, HOCHTIEF AG, DEVINE LIMITED – ASX DVN, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, CHEVRON CORPORATION, LEIGHTON CONTRACTORS PTY LTD, THIESS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION