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Hochtief takeover would strengthen King’s hand at Leighton

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In 23 years of running Leighton, Wal King has taken it from having a market cap of $70m to among other construction enterprises being the world’s biggest mining contractor and having a market cap of $9.2bn.

  

He is one of the most successful chief executives in the country and a dominant CEO, unwilling to let go any time soon.
But his succession has been an issue with the Leighton board for some time and particularly German company Hochtief, its biggest shareholder.
Now according to the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, one of the world’s top five construction groups Grupo ACS, is considering a takeover bid for Hochtief. A merger between ACS and Hochtief – ACS is triple the size of Hochtief - “would probably result in King taking a board seat at ACS and having a bigger say in the succession plans for Leighton,” the Herald says.
The article adds that succession is the most important issue for the company “because if it manages it badly and King walks, the share price will tank and so will Hochtief’s.
“If they go too fast and pick the wrong successor, the company will also suffer.”
Leighton’s share price stood at $31.54 yesterday against its year high of $41.70.


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