The storied and blue-chip company Lendlease has plenty of experience in development and construction. But it is the company itself that shareholders are saying needs demolishing and a rebuild.

It might appear almost blasphemous to seek to tear down what has been a pillar of the Australian corporate landscape since the 1960s; the company that built Barangaroo in Sydney and the Melbourne Quarter. But when it comes to investment returns, there are no sacred cows.

John Wylie: “The company’s challenges run much deeper than exiting a few business lines considered to be no longer core.”Credit: Eamon Gallagher

This company is actually shrinking.

There will almost certainly be pushback from the company’s blue blood board in response to the latest pressure exerted for a major overhaul. Despite what they say, companies don’t like being told what to do by their shareholders.

The trouble is, Lendlease can no longer dead bat complaints and urgings from shareholders to get things done. One large and activist shareholder, Tanarra Capital, run by the high-profile businessman John Wylie – has taken the fight into the public domain.

The way he sees it, to ignore claims that the company needs a major overhaul could render the board existential denialists.

“A radical overhaul of the company and its strategy is imperative, not just for future success, but for its survival,” Wylie said in a comprehensive letter to the Lendlease board.

He may have taken the shareholder lead, but Tanarra isn’t alone; there are others less vocal but just as anxious about Lendlease. And this isn’t Wylie’s first rodeo – he has a history of buying into unloved stocks and pushing for change.

QOSHE - Why investors want to tear down this corporate giant - Elizabeth Knight
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Why investors want to tear down this corporate giant

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04.04.2024

The storied and blue-chip company Lendlease has plenty of experience in development and construction. But it is the company itself that shareholders are saying needs demolishing and a rebuild.

It might appear almost blasphemous to seek to tear down what has been a pillar of the Australian corporate landscape since the 1960s; the company that built Barangaroo in Sydney and the Melbourne Quarter. But when it comes to investment........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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