The Italian company has already agreed to pay $17.6 million to take full control of the Snowy 2.0 and Inland Rail projects following Clough’s slide into administration last month, but has been negotiating with administrators Deloitte over what other projects to pick up.

Webuild plans to acquire several Clough entities including E2O (the Clough subsidiary building the $768 million Waitsia project for Japan’s Mitsui and ASX-listed Beach Energy) as well as Clough Projects and Sharp Resources via a deed of company arrangement, including intellectual property.

It is also expected to take on the $2.3 billion Project EnergyConnect cable between South Australia and NSW; the Tallawarra power station in NSW for Energy Australia; and the Lombrum Naval Base in Papua New Guinea for the Australian Department of Defence.

The transaction would avoid creditors being hit with some $1 billion to $2 billion of financial claims from Clough’s clients and joint venture partners, mostly related to Clough and Webuild’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 project.

The claims are not expected to proceed if a final deal is struck to sell the Clough projects to Webuild.

The proposed deal would reduce the amount of money that Clough is required to pay on bonds and other guarantees that it will complete its construction jobs by about $174 million.

Clough creditors will also avoid the “crystallisation” of around $30 million in employee entitlements, Deloitte told the meeting.

Some workers on Clough projects, including Waitsia, have been walking off amid concerns they will not be paid full entitlements, including superannuation and holiday pay.

But Ian Gill, a lead organiser for the Electrical Trades Union’s WA branch, said he had been told by Deloitte that employees of the E2O subsidiary would have their entitlements before and after Clough’s collapse honoured.

Beach Energy investors were told this week to expect higher costs and delays on the gas project.

Morne Engelbrecht, Beach’s chief executive, indicated that an increase in the project’s cost was partially due to “inefficiencies” of the administration process as well as inflation and labour expenses, but did not specify how much costs had increased.

AWE Perth – a subsidiary of Mitsui E&P Australia Holdings – is among Clough’s biggest creditors and is owed more than $12 million for work on the gas project, according to filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Deloitte plans to arrange a meeting for creditors to vote on the proposed transaction. The meeting is likely to be held in mid-February.

Mitsui, Deloitte and Webuild all declined to comment.