The news: Real estate group Lendlease has agreed to sell its UK construction business to Atlas Holdings, finalising the exit of its international construction operations.
The numbers: Lendlease will receive $70 million in cash consideration, including $20 million deferred until June 2026.
However, the company said that the profit outcome is expected to be “broadly neutral”. The net cash outflow from the transaction is anticipated to be around $100 million due to the unwind of negative working capital in the business, it said.
Lendlease’s full-year earnings guidance remains unchanged, with expected group earnings per security of 54 cents to 62 cents. However, the result is now expected to heavily skew to the second half of the year, due to the delay in the completion of its military housing sale, announced in July.
The context: Lendlease said the sale accelerates the company’s plan to further simplify the group and focus on the growth of its Australian operations and international investments platform.
The group’s final exit from international construction operations follows its recent sale of its US East Coast construction operations and beats its targeted 18 month timeline announced in May last year.
Lendlease noted that all of its existing UK construction employees will leave the group as they transfer with the sale.
What they said: “This transaction builds on our progress to simplify Lendlease as we look to lower our risk profile and increase securityholder returns,” said Lendlease CEO Tony Lombardo.
