Leighton, Abu Dhabi Abandon Venture on Market’s Slump (Update1)

Leighton Holdings Ltd., Australia’s largest construction company, and a developer of tourism-related buildings in Abu Dhabi abandoned a venture that was expected to generate revenue of at least $1.5 billion within five years.

Leighton, a Sydney-based company controlled by Hochtief AG of Germany, and the Tourism Development & Investment Co. agreed to create the venture in December 2007. TDIC is the development arm of Abu Dhabi’s tourism authority.

“After a strategic review of TDIC’s business model and due to the changing economic climate, it became more commercially viable for TDIC to retain the flexibility to work with different contractors,” Lee Tabler, TDIC’s chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed statement today. “Therefore the joint venture was never progressed.”