Robert Humphris appointed Leighton's new chairman
The Leighton Holdings board has appointed Robert Humphris as its new chairman.
The construction company board convened on Sunday evening in Sydney following Friday’s sudden resignation of chairman Stephen Johns that followed a corporate governance battle with Hochtief.
Robert Humphris is an engineer and former managing director of Peabody Resources. He has been on Leighton’s board since 2004. The new deputy, Paula Dwyer is chairperson of Tabcorp and joined the board a year ago.
Mr Johns and two long-serving independent directors, Wayne Osborn and Ian Macfarlane, resigned amid fears the board was losing its independence after a disagreement with Hochtief over directorship appointments.
They resigned following what they perceived to be a breakdown in relations with the major shareholder Hochtief and their view that Hochtief no longer supported an independent board at Leighton which has 57,000 shareholders.
But the remaining Australian directors indicated they did not agree with all of the conclusions drawn by the resigning directors.
"There have been a series of events in recent months which are open to interpretation.
"The remaining Australian directors have a different view about how to interpret these events to the resigning directors," a statement issued advised.
Hochtief controls 54% of Leighton.
