Rich Listers Tim Gurner and Andrew Roberts plot merger
Famed property developer Tim Gurner has taken time away from taunting tradies. Street Talk understands the Gurner Group founder is in discussions with Roberts Co, the Sydney-based building contractor founded by Rich Lister Andrew Roberts.
A merger between the two would create a dominant property management company and help to derisk Gurner, sources said, which is exposed to the ups and downs of the commercial property market and construction debt. The Gurner Group is now run by high-profile executive and ex-Latitude Financial chief Ahmed Fahour.
Gurner is well-known for developing luxury apartments while Roberts Co is a diversified construction company with its names on buildings like the North Shore Health Hub and CSL Melbourne. Sources described the talks as “well-progressed” but emphasised that terms had not yet been agreed.
Gurner is known to be looking to diversify activity away from his $15 billion pipeline of apartment towers, health clubs and funds management, and tapped Fahour to lead his property empire in December, as reported by The Australian Financial Review.
The group raised a $2 billion fund last year alongside real estate financier Qualitas to drive growth at its build-to-rent platform. It subsequently picked up two major sites – one on Melbourne’s St Kilda Road and another on Sydney’s Kent Street – which it will convert into luxury apartments.
Roberts Co has also been busy. The contractor seized on failed builder Probuild in 2022 for just $1, picking up its six Victorian projects and committing to grow its pool of public work. It’s also secured a design and construct contract to construct a $500 million, 210,000-square-metre robotic warehouse for Amazon and developer Logos. But its accounts have been less than rosy, swinging to a $9.3 million loss last year as it, like other large commercial builders, bears the brunt of soaring costs and unprofitable fixed-price contracts. The company expected to return to profit this financial year.
Roberts derived his fortune from the $1.2 billion sale of construction giant Multiplex, founded by his late father John, but has also made a name for himself in the property game, founding a construction company in a joint venture with Italian family-owned construction group Impresa Pizzarotti & C. Roberts took full ownership of the firm in 2021 and has built it into a construction powerhouse alongside former Multiplex and Lendlease executive Alison Mirams.
Neither company was available for comment when contacted by Street Talk on Tuesday.
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