Leighton Holdings chairman Stephen Johns has quit in protest after Marcelino Fernandez, ACS's board member in Hochtief and Leighton,  tried to intervene in the appointment of Leighton's independent directors. The context is that Hochtief and Leighton had an agreement of Board independence.

The once cordial relations between Leighton's independent directors and 54 % shareholders Hochtief have become increasingly strained since the German group was taken over by Spanish construction giant Grupo ACS in 2011.

Two other Non-executive Directors have also resigned. Please see below the press release from Leighton.

RE: Leighton Board changes 

Please be advised that the Chairman of Leighton Holdings Limited, Mr Stephen Johns and two Non-executive Directors, Mr Wayne Osborn and Mr Ian Macfarlane AC, have today tendered their resignation from the Board. They have resigned following what they perceive to be a breakdown in relations with the major shareholder Hochtief and their view that Hochtief no longer supports an independent Board at Leighton. Under the current governance arrangements between Hochtief and Leighton, Leighton operates under an independent board and management. Leighton believes these governance arrangements, which have been in place for a long period, have contributed substantially to the value created for all of Leighton's 57,000 shareholders.

The current arrangements with Hochtief are expected to continue and we believe this is well understood by the market.

The Leighton Group is in a strong position. Management of the Company remains absolutely focused on managing the business in the best interests of all shareholders.

The Board will convene at the earliest possible time to elect a new Chairman. The Company will make a fuller statement in due course.

Yours faithfullyLEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED

The Australian website 'The Sydney Morning Herald' has also published the internal resignation letter from Stephen Johns. The mentioned resignation letter has attached several Appendixes which explain very well the facts behind the resignation of these three executives.

ACS does not support any longer Leighton's management in spite of the important turnaround that the company is carrying out in the last months. However, is this the best strategy for ACS? Leighton's stock price plunged 10 % on Friday after all this information was public.

Moreover Leighton's minority shareholders need to know where the company is going to protect their interests. And for this, ACS needs to makes very clear what strategy they have for Leighton.