Macmahon brings back former director

Macmahon Holdings has responded swiftly to last week’s unexpected retirement of two directors, including chairman Jim Walker, by reappointing Vyril Vella to its board.

Mr Vella was previously a non-executive director of Macmahon for 10 years until October 2018.

He will serve alongside interim chair Eva Skira, who moved into that role after Mr Walker and non-executive director Kim Horne resigned last Thursday.

The company, nor the departing directors, have explained the resignations, with Ms Skira telling a conference call last week the rest of the board was surprised and had not been given specific reasons.

The resignations came just days after Macmahon agreed to acquire underground mining contractor GBF Group.

Macmahon has a total of four directors, including two representatives from Indonesian group and major shareholder AMNT – Alex Ramlie and Arief Sidarto.

Ms Skira said it was pleasing to welcome Mr Vella back to Macmahon.

“Vyril made a significant contribution to Macmahon during his previous tenure, and we are very pleased to have the benefit of his wealth of knowledge and experience while we continue our process to appoint additional independent non-executive directors,” she said in a statement.

“Vyril is well known for his robust independence, which was very publicly displayed during the CIMIC Group takeover offer for Macmahon in 2017.

“I am looking forward to working closely with Vyril again as we seek to capitalise on our significant order book and strong prospects for future growth.”

Mr Vella spent 34 years with CIMIC Group (formerly Leighton Group) including as General Manager NSW, Director of Leighton Contractors, Managing Director of Leighton Properties and Associate Director of Leighton Holdings.

Macmahon shares closed one cent higher today at 19.5 cents. They had been trading at 22.5 cents last week before the resignations.