Bill retires from McDonald Jones Homes Group, offloading his share to Japanese partner AKH

The exit of Mr McDonald, who founded the company in 1987, means AKH's shareholding of 40 per cent, which it acquired in 2017, will now double to 80 per cent.

MHJ Group's managing director Andrew Helmers holds a 20 per cent stake in the company, which was founded by McDonald and then business partner Phil Jones.

In a media statement, MJH Group said Mr McDonald's passion for building had seen McDonald Jones Homes grow from humble beginnings in 1987 with a handful of people, into the MJH Group spanning across four states and the ACT, employing 900 employees and more than 2500 contractors.

Mr Helmers said the company wished Mr McDonald all the best in retirement and "sincerely thank him for decades of service to the business and we hope [Mr McDonald's wife] Jude has plenty for him to do."

"Bill's departure is an historic event for the business, and he will be missed. He cast a large shadow across the Hunter building industry and played a key role in the development of the HIA regional office in Newcastle," Mr Helmers said.

Mr Helmers said the acquisition by Asahi Kasei was "an exciting opportunity" that would provide new opportunities for growth in the business.

"The ownership restructure will have no impact on the day-to-day operations of our customer facing brands," he said.

The MJH Group is the third largest detached house builder in Australia and operates, McDonald Jones Homes in NSW and ACT, MOJO Homes in NSW, Brighton Homes in QLD, Weeks Homes in South Australia, Wilson Homes in Tasmania, MJH Multi in NSW, Complete by McDonald Jones in NSW and Allsteel Homes in South Australia.

Mr McDonald said his departure was bittersweet.

"I am looking forward to the benefits of retirement and spending more time with Jude, but I'll miss the day-to-day contact with the staff," he said.

In 2015, Mr McDonald told the Newcastle Herald his entry into building was unexpected.

Intent on being a farmer, his ailing father instead lined up a job for him as a trainee carpenter.

"Dad said 'I have to go into hospital to have a lung operation ... once I get out and fixed, what you will have learnt as a carpenter you can use on the farm'," he said at the time.

After his father died in hospital of cancer, Mr McDonald worked in various building roles then founded the company in 1987 with Mr Jones, who exited the company in 2000.

At that time, Mr McDonald had seven employees and decided the company focus would be on building single-storey homes in its Hunter heartland.

In 2019, his history of providing financial support to Hunter charities and not-for-profit organisations landed him a Medal of the Order of Australia.

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