Bank of America is best placed to win a role advising Boral on the sale of its building products business in the US.
Boral confirmed on Tuesday that it would explore a sale, and US investment banks are expected to jostle for a role.
Boral’s recently appointed chief executive Zlatko Todorcevski previously worked as a chief financial officer at Brambles, which used Bank of America as an adviser.
When Mr Todorcevski was the Adelaide Brighton chairman, Bank of America was the defence adviser to the company.
The understanding is that Bank of America was influential when it came to Mr Todorcevski’s appointment to the Adelaide Brighton board as a director, and it was Mr Todorcevski’s experience on that board that won him the role of chief executive at Boral.
Bank of America has good relationships in North America, and the relationship with Mr Todorcevski is thought to date back to the bank’s former Australian head Kevin Skelton.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Todorcevski said Boral was yet to appoint an investment bank for any sale of US assets and that all of the work that had been conducted on its portfolio review was carried out internally.
Earlier, the understanding had been that Macquarie Capital and Flagstaff Partners were working with Boral.
Macquarie has been the company’s long-time adviser.
But Mr Todorcevski said the banks were not working on the review.
Banks likely to be lobbying for a role include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Citi.
Boral shareholders including the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven Group have been pushing for the company to offload its underperforming US division.
Boral has said that it will consider offers for its building products arm and also look at new supply options for its fly-ash business.
Mr Todorcevski said that the company was planning to explore third party interest in its North American building products businesses to assess if there were enhanced value-creation opportunities.
Parties expected to show an interest in Boral’s North American assets, should they come up for sale, include numerous private equity firms including Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
Boral purchased the US-based Headwaters for $3.5bn in 2016 but investors have expressed disappointment over its performance.
At that time, Macquarie Capital and Citi advised on the transaction.
In the US, Boral operates in fly ash, stone and roofing, light building products, windows and concrete blocks.
It remains focused on retaining its fly ash business, which is estimated to comprise about one-third of its US-based operations.
Boral owned fly-ash assets before the Headwaters acquisition.
It also owns a US bricks business in a joint venture relationship with Lone Star Funds.
Additional reporting: Perry Williams
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