Clough under voluntary administration as deal with Webuild falls apart

South African engineering and mining contractor Murray & Roberts (M&R) has terminated the proposed sale of its Australian engineering subsidiary Clough to Italian multinational industrial group Webuild following a mutual agreement between the parties.

Murray & Roberts has also decided to place Clough and its indirectly wholly owned Australian subsidiary Murray & Roberts Pty Ltd under voluntary administration to restructure the business in the absence of AUD 30 million interim loan to Clough from Webuild.

The board of directors of Clough has appointed Deloitte Australia members Sal Algeri, David Orr, Jason Tracy, and Glen Kanevsky as administrators with immediate effect and they will responsible for the company’s affairs such as exploring options for its restructuring and recapitalization.

Clough under voluntary administration as deal with Webuild falls apart. Photo courtesy of Clough.

Established in Perth in 1919, Clough delivers high performing assets for the energy, resources and infrastructure industries, and employs more than 2,500 people across Australia, Asia Pacific, North America, and the UK.

Based on the financial metrics, as of 30 June 2022, Clough had an order backlog of around €2.1 billion, and approximately €2.7 billion worth of projects as well as revenues of €1 billion, with financial debt-free balance sheet.

Milan-headquartered Webuild has partnered with Clough on major projects, including its joint venture with the latter on the AUD 6 billion Snowy 2.0 hydropower project in Eastern Australia.

Last month, Murray & Roberts announced the company had entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Webuild to divest Clough Group and all its subsidiaries — e2o, CH-IV, Booth Welsh, and JJ White.