Troubled Australian property company Multiplex is planning to beef up its fund management and facilities management businesses as it draws up a new strategy for its UK operations.
The company, which this week appointed former MEPC chief executive James Tuckey as executive chairman of its UK arm, is in the midst of an internal review of the business.
Tuckey said the company, which publishes interim results next Thursday, was “taking stock”, but that it was still determined to expand the UK business despite its recent troubles. The company refused to confirm whether Multiplex would sell off any more of its assets as part of the review.
The company has already disposed of a number of properties, including its 25% stake in the £4bn Stratford City project, in a bid to counterbalance its construction division’s poor performance. The firm has a UK development pipeline of around £3.6bn.
Tuckey, who joined last September as a non-executive director, said Multiplex would be expanding its fund management and facilities management business this year.
“There has not been a huge amount of progress with the fund management and facilities management divisions in the UK,” said Tuckey. “My role is to bring them forward.”
He said “next to zip” of the A$5.5bn (£2.3bn) of funds under management across the group was in the UK, and that his new role at Multiplex would be to expand the business here.
“My job is to help coordinate Multiplex’s business streams, to make sure the UK strategy is part of the group strategy and to make sure the divisions are operating at maximum efficiency,” said Tuckey.
Tuckey’s appointment follows that of Jayne McGivern, former managing director of Anschutz Entertainment, who joined Multiplex as managing director of UK development last month (7 January, p16).
Sources said Tuckey was “stepping into very difficult shoes”, especially at a time when the group is widely expected not to complete Wembley stadium in time for the FA Cup final on 13 May.
