RNS Number:1228S
Portman Ld
17 November 2003

                                                            Portman
                                                            Limited



                                                           ACN 007 871 892
                                                           ABN 22 007 871 892
                

                                                           Level 11
                                                           The Quadrant
                                                           1 William Street
                                                           Perth,  6000
                                                           Western Australia
                                                           GPO Box W2017
                                                           Perth, 6001
 
                                                           Tel:   61 8 9426 3333
                                                           Fax:   61 8 9426 3344

                                 Media Release

                       Thiess Sells Portman Shareholding

Portman Limited ("PMM") was advised last week that Thiess Pty Ltd had sold all
of it's 23.147 million shares in PMM.  The shares have been sold to several
institutional investors in off-market transactions conducted on behalf of Thiess
by Deutsche Bank.

Thiess (a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings Limited) advised that it will utilize
the funds raised from the sale elsewhere in its ongoing business.  Thiess has
recently won mining contracts in Indonesia valued at over $1.7 billion over 5
years and is a sponsor of the consortium named as the preferred tenderer for the
construction of the Lane Cove Tunnel in Sydney.

Mr Martin Albrecht (Chairman of Thiess) has resigned as a director of PMM.  The
PMM Board would like to record its sincere thanks to Martin for his contribution
over the past 4 years.

The sale of Thiess' interest in PMM has resulted in the formal termination of
the Strategic Alliance that has been in place since June 1999 however PMM looks
forward to working with Thiess again should the opportunity arise in the future.

For further information please contact PMM's Managing Director, Mr Barry
Eldridge on 61-8-9426 3333.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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