Interestingly for the real estate community, China Communications Construction Company was one of the parties to chase Leighton Properties early on in the process.
It could mean that other property acquisitions could be afoot by CCCC, which recently picked up Leighton Holdings contractor John Holland for more than $1bn.
Attempts by Leighton Holdings to sell its property subsidiary to listed developer Stockland collapsed on Christmas Eve, as Data Room first flagged last Tuesday, but CCCC’s interest early on is largely unknown.
Also interesting is that investment banks tried to match make a deal between residential developer AV Jennings and its Leighton Holdings-controlled rival Devine about two years ago, given the strong synergies between the pair.
The former Leighton chief executive, Hamish Tyrwhitt, was thought to be preoccupied with larger matters related to the company at the time, hence the deal did not proceed.
Still, it could throw further weight behind the theory AV Jennings could be pursuing the Devine business now in the sales process run by Goldman Sachs.