Lendlease class action filed by Maurice Blackburn

Maurice Blackburn has filed a class action against Lendlease over its engineering arm disclosures.

A Lendlease logo is seen on temporary fencing in Sydney's CBD. Picture: AAP

Maurice Blackburn has filed a class action against construction giant Lendlease alleging that the group misled the market and failed to adequately disclose problems affecting its troubled engineering division, which saw a plunge in its share price in November.

The lawyers said today that the action had been filed in the NSW Supreme court on behalf of Lendlease investors who bought shares or American Depositor Receipts in the year ahead of the share price hit.

The claim says that Lendlease (LLC) told the market it had found “further underperformance” in its engineering and services business which was likely to lead to a $350 million provision.

“The market reacted sharply to the announcement, with LLC’s share price dropping by more than 18 per cent in a single day of trading on November 9,” Maurice Blackburn said.

The action says Lendlease managing director Steve McCann noted his disappointment with the pre-tax loss of $500m on the back of the underperformance of the engineering business at the company’s half year results in February, and there flagged possible pre-tax restructuring costs of up to $550m, the law firm outlined in the claim.

“The class action alleges that LLC failed to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the ASX Listing Rules and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in respect of the performance of its Engineering and Services Business.”

Lendlease said it denies any liability and will “vigorously defend the proceeding”.