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Webuild announces it has completed negotiations and is close to finalising an agreement with the Deloitte Administrators of Clough Limited in Australia to expand the Group’s acquisition perimeter to include a number of additional projects.
• Guaranteed continuity of Clough strategic projects and secured more than 1,000 jobs
• New terms on projects to guarantee accretive conditions for Webuild
• Clough to serve as platform for Webuild in Australia, a strategic market with strong growth
prospects estimated at €300 billion in 2022-2025
The acquisition guarantees business continuity, the delivery of high quality works to clients and, most of all, safeguards the employment of Clough personnel with their unique expertise and know-how. The transaction reaffirms Webuild’s commitment to strengthen its presence in Australia, which is Group’s second core market.
As announced last year on December 14 and December 22, Webuild and the Deloitte Administrators reached an initial agreement that included the Group’s acquisition of a base perimeter of Clough’s Australian organisation (including offices, brand, credentials, business references, senior management, office personnel, as well as stakes in projects) and its share in the Snowy 2.0 and Inland Rail contracts.
This agreement included an option to expand the scope of the transaction to include additional projects if accretive conditions for Webuild were to be guaranteed.
Webuild – together with Deloitte and Clough senior management – have now concluded preliminary negotiations with several key stakeholders to expand the scope of the transaction to additional projects that will benefit from amended contractual terms.
Webuild and Deloitte as Clough’s Administrators will continue to engage with stakeholders during the coming weeks to finalise the agreements and satisfy outstanding conditions in order to complete the overall transaction. More details on the scope of the transaction and its completion will be provided in the coming days.
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Australia is Webuild’s second largest market after Italy with an order backlog of €8.9 billion, including projects for which the Group is preferred bidder. The market has potential construction contracts estimated in excess of €300 billion for the 2022-2025 period.
With more than 1,800 employees, Webuild is expanding its operations in Australia. It recently delivered the Airport Line in Perth, a rail service connecting the eastern suburbs with the Central Business District via the airport.
It will take part in the construction of the Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport project that connect the city to the new airport. It is working on the North East Link, the missing section of Melbourne’s beltway. It belongs to a consortium that is the preferred bidder for the construction of a section of Inland Rail, designed to improve freight transport between Brisbane and Melbourne. In the Snowy Mountains, the Group is working on Snowy 2.0, the largest hydropower project in the country.
Founded in Perth in 1919, Clough is a pioneer in the country’s construction industry. Landmark projects include the National Mutual Building, the first high-rise in Perth, and the Graham Farmer Freeway, the first major underground freeway tunnel in Western Australia.
Source: Webuild Media Release
