<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The ongoing race for the purchase of Leighton subsidiary John Holland has rolled on, with a major Australian newspaper singling out one company as the leader. </span> <p>The Australian reported late last week that Korean conglomerate Samsung is the leading contender for John Holland.<br /><br />In parallel, Spain’s Ferrovial is tipped as the most likely buyer of Leighton’s service assets, previously eyed by private equity firms such as KKR.<br /><br />Leighton is said to be asking $2bn in total for the John Holland businesses, which initially were expected to attract interest primarily from European concerns such as Bouygues and Ferrovial.<br /><br />Samsung is currently lead contractor delivering Gina Rinehart’s $10bn Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara. The firm is also said to be in the frame to win the $8bn East West Connect Melbourne road and tunnel contract from the Victorian government.<br /><br />Ferrovial bills itself as “the world’s leading private investor in transportation infrastructures, with a workforce of approximately 57,000 employees and operations in more than 25 countries.” Amongst other assets, it manages London’s Heathrow airport.<br /><br />Ferrovial’s construction arm, Ferrovial Agroman, has built all types of civil engineering, construction and industrial projects. In the transport space, it says it has has built more than 470 km of tunnels, 3,900 km of highways, 15,000 km of roads and 4,600 km of railroad (including 700 km of high-speed railroad).<br /><br /><em><strong>This article was originally published in Rail Express sister publication, the Australian Journal of Mining.</strong></em></p>
