Leighton, Middle East Biggest Contractor

KGB INTERROGATION: Wal King
Business Spectator - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
...Then when you move to the Middle East, Al Habtoor Leighton are the biggest contractor ... But in our engineering business, our building business, we've taken that off to the Middle East. ...The Middle East people are wanting to invest money around the world in places like Morocco. ...Well it's a big operation now. We employ like 40,000 people. The scale of what's on in the Middle East [is big] and if... On Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi there where we're sort of the prime contractor we're currently building [is], would you believe, a construction camp for 40,000 people and it's just of mind bending proportions. ...We just the other day had an invitation to be involved with a construction of a road from Abu Dhabi to the Saudi border. ... The numbers that we're employing in the Middle East are expected to go on up to 60,000 people.

Leighton shows it still has a solid foundation
The Australian, Australia
So shareholders should be confident that the Australian company's 1-for-14 share offer, at a 15 per cent discount to its current share price is worth taking ... Elsewhere, Leighton made a sensible move into the Middle East through its Al Habtoor joint venture, at a time when the construction boom there still shows few signs of abating.

Leighton profit up 35% to $608m, work in hand currently at $34.5bn. Leighton is Australia's largest project development and contracting group.