LEIGHTON HOLDINGS has announced management changes amid jostling to eventually succeed Wal King, one of Australia's longest serving chief executives.
Mr King, head of the burgeoning group since 1987, is 65, and the employed contract he renewed in 2007 expires next year.
He has consistently refused to publicly identify a successor, but a company spokesman said Leighton had a succession plan and capable internal candidates.
Leighton said yesterday that the managing director of the John Holland construction division, David Stewart, would become chief operating officer of Leighton Holdings.
Mr Stewart will work in partnership with the incumbent, Bill Wild, an industry veteran who has been in the role since 2006.
Mr Stewart will be replaced by Leighton's chief operating officer of construction, Glenn Palin.
The company's chairwoman, Janet Holmes a Court, said Mr Stewart had led John Holland to "record turnover and profitability and continued to expand the diversity of the company".
Leighton also announced that operational responsibility for its contract mining work in Indonesia would be transferred from Leighton International to Leighton Asia.
The move will "better align the geography of the market with the management of the group's operations in Asia," it said.
Leighton Asia oversees projects in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Macau with an estimated value of $706 million.
The deputy managing director of Leighton Contractors, Laurie Voyer, will be promoted to managing director of Leighton International.
The man he will replace, David Savage, would remain in the position for "an appropriate transitional period", the company said.
Leighton shares fell 29c, or 1.4 per cent, to $20.78.
with AAP
