CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY – AUSTRALIA

Lend Lease victory in Barangaroo union fight

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Original article by Greg Brown|Sarah Danckert
The Australian – Page: 23 : 25-Jul-14

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has banned workers at Lend Lease Group’s Barangaroo South project in Sydney from engaging in unlawful strike action for three months. Some 1,000 members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union went on strike on 24 July 2014. The dispute centres on Lend Lease’s decision to stand down a union delegate in March after he raises concerns about safety at the construction site

CORPORATES
LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fresh faces on board in Leighton overhaul

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Original article by Bridget Carter
The Australian – Page: 21 : 11-Jul-14

Construction group Leighton Holdings has appointed Kirstin Ferguson to its board. The company is making major changes to its board and management, following the takeover by Germany’s Hochtief. Russell Chenu and Trevor Gerber have also been recently appointed as independent directors. Changes will be made to board committees and advisory boards to improve corporate governance

CORPORATES
LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LEI, HOCHTIEF AG, GRUPO ACS, ACTIVIDADES DE CONSTRUCCION Y SERVICIOS SA, SUNWATER PTY LTD, DART ENERGY LIMITED – ASX DTE, THIESS PTY LTD, JOHN HOLLAND PTY LTD, LEIGHTON CONTRACTORS PTY LTD, LEIGHTON PROPERTIES PTY LTD, LEIGHTON ASIA LIMITED

Union rushes to enlist

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 4-Jul-14

Construction groups such as Lend Lease and Leighton Holdings off-shoot John Holland are warning subcontractors that they will have to comply with a new building and construction industry code. However the relevant legislation has not yet been passed by the senate, with the Federal Government needing the votes of the Palmer United Party and independents. The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union is busy signing up subcontractors to an enterprise agreement. It hopes that if sufficient numbers can be reached, it will be easier to convince senators to vote against the reinstatement of the Australian Building & Construction Commission, which would enforce the code

CORPORATES
LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LEI, JOHN HOLLAND PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES PTY LTD, PALMER UNITED PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

BGC, Metricon team up

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 42 : 26-Jun-14

The market leader in the Western Australian residential construction sector is BGC, a group that also has building materials assets. It has been the largest home builder nationwide as well for most of the past 10 years, only occasionally surpassed by Metricon. The number of new home starts in 2013 was 3,400 for BGC and 2,800 for Metricon. The two have now formed a new joint venture named Homefirst, which will initially be active in the Melbourne market’s budget segment

CORPORATES
HOMEFIRST, BGC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, METRICON HOMES

Fairfax defence: Leighton consultancy deal ‘corrupt’

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Original article by Leo Shanahan, Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 25 : 23-Jun-14

Fairfax Media is resorting to the defence of truth in the defamation law suit brought against it by ex-Leighton Holdings CEO Wal King. He objects to a series of articles published in 2013 that claimed he had knowledge of bribes paid to gain oil sector contracts in Iraq. The defence now mounted by Fairfax also alleges that corrupt and unethical conduct occurred when King sought to obtain a consultancy role worth $A5m from Leighton after he stepped down. The company maintains that no such agreement was in fact struck

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LEI, UNAOIL GROUP, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Leighton slims down in $1.5b sell-off

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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