leighton holdings has retro rockets, page-2

Anybody notice the strength in the bounce back from the afternoon sell off after the LEI speeding ticket, was bloody amazing, looking good for tomorrow and beyond...


SYDNEY, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Australian contractor Leighton Holdings Ltd. said on Tuesday media reports regarding its major shareholder, Germany's Hochtief AG , were purely speculative
Leighton's shares jumped last week on talk that Macquarie
Bank could buy Hochtief and then take Leighton private.
Leighton, in which Hochtief owns a 54 percent stake, said in
a statement it was not aware of any information that had not been
announced that could explain the recent gains in its share price.
"We are aware of recent media reports regarding the company's
major shareholder Hochtief A.G. We consider these media reports
to be purely speculative," Leighton company secretary Ashley Moir
said in a response to a stock exchange query.
Leighton shares, which have jumped about 10 percent in the
past week, gave up early gains but were still up 3.1 percent at
A$22.19, in a firm overall market.
Last week, shares in Hochtief, Germany's biggest construction
group, climbed to a record on talk of a Macquarie bid sparked by
a report in German publication manager magazin.
Macquarie Bank was mulling a bid with the aim of breaking up
the group, the magazine said. Hochtief is Germany's biggest
construction group with a market value of some 4.2 billion euros
($5.4 billion).
A spokesman for Macquarie Bank declined to comment on Monday
on the speculation, while industry sources and people familiar
with the matter downplayed reports of potential bid by Macquarie.
Germany's WirtschaftsWoche magazine said on Saturday that
Bechtel Corp., Toll Brothers and Bucyrus International
Inc. were interested in various parts of Hochtief's
Turner and Leighton businesses in the U.S. and Australia.
The magazine also quoted company sources in a preview on
Saturday as saying it was "very certain" that Macquarie would
take over Hochtief and subsequently sell parts of the firm.
((Reporting by James Thornhill and Denny Thomas; Reuters
messaging: [email protected], tel: +61 (02)
9373 1817))
Keywords: LEIGHTON HOCHTIEF/


Tuesday 30 January 2007 15:27:04 AEST