NRW Holdings will have to cough up $25 million as part of a settlement relating to subcontracting work subsidiary Primero Group provided for a gas-fired power station in South Australia.
AGL commissioned Wartsila Australia to build the Barker Inlet power station in 2017 with Primero Group subcontracted to undertake an array of works at the site.
Primero — which later commenced court action claiming it was owed money on the back of an expanded scope of works — was in 2020 acquired by NRW.
Details of the settlement remain “confidential”, according to NRW, however, the company did acknowledge it would make the multi-million-dollar payment as part of it.
In a statement released on Friday, NRW managing director Jules Pemberton said the mater was “historical” and unreflective of Primero’s current executive team or staff.
The company also said it made provisions relating to the dispute when it earlier acquired Primero.
“Primero and indeed the wider METs group has never been in a stronger position with $1.4 billion of secured orders and over $1b of active tenders,” he said.
”Further, as outlined in the group’s FY23 results announcement, with the migration to more balanced risk-sharing contract structures in the current project portfolio, I am confident in Primero’s ability to deliver far better financial performance in FY24, driven by the very strong demand for the business’s services.
“The Primero team is fully focused on the delivery of their FY24 order book.”
NRW shares were up 3.31 per cent on Friday to trade $2.81 each.