Clough’s new owner Webuild is set to take on more of the collapsed Perth engineer’s projects for $35.9 million, including the $750 million Waitsia gas development.
Clough’s new owner Webuild is set to take on more of the collapsed Perth engineer’s projects for $35.9 million, including the $750 million Waitsia gas development.
Webuild and Clough's voluntary administrators Deloitte publicly announced on Friday afternoon that terms for a final sale agreement had been struck between the parties, two months after Clough collapsed into administration.
A deal had been expected on Monday when the exclusivity period between the parties was due to expire.
Italy's Webuild will take on seven more Clough projects as part of the sale agreement announced this afternoon, comprising three projects already in the works and four on which Clough had been selected as the preferred contractor.
Webuild estimated the backlog of work was in the order of $6 billion.
The contractor is already involved in the Snowy 2.0 hydropower project and Inland Rail, which it acquried as part of a $17.6 million agreement in December last year.
Among the new projects Webuild is set to buy Clough's interest in is Beach Energy and Mitsui & Co's $750 million Waitsia gas development, one of the biggest Australian projects caught up in the fallout.
Mitsui E&P Australia chief executive Ken Yamamura said it was 'great news' for workers that Webuild intended to take on the project.
"The joint venture has been working closely with Webuild and the administrators to achieve the best possible outcome for the project, including funding employee wages, and payments to subcontractors and suppliers," he said after the deal was announced.
“The Waitsia project is significant not just in terms of delivering a reliable supply of gas, but also for the jobs and economic growth the project provides for Western Australians. We look forward to working with Webuild to deliver the project."
As well at Waitsia, Webuild will buy Cough's project workbook at the Lombrum naval base in Papua New Guinea and the Tallawarra power plant in NSW.
It will also take on projects on which Clough was the preferred bidder, including Perdaman's proposed $US4.2 billion urea project on the Burrup Peninsula, which has seemingly be renamed Project Ceres.
Webuild will also take up work on BHP Nickel West's Mt Keith project, the Woodman Point Water Treatment Plant in Henderson and the Darwin Shiplift project.
Overall, the work is set to guarantee 1,100 jobs across Australia and Papua New Guinea, according to Webuild.
Administrators Deloitte estimated this would avoid employment claims of about $34 million out of more than $1 billion in potential contingent liabilities and creditor claims.
However, today's agreement makes no mention of Clough’s expansive US operations, where half of its 2,500 staff are employed.
Creditors are due to vote on the deed of company arrangement in mid-February.
