Australia’s richest girl buys lithium bid focusing on Liontown
(Bloomberg) — Australia’s richest girl has amassed a stake in A$6.6 billion ($4.3 billion) lithium producer Albemarle Corp., which is focusing on Liontown Assets Ltd., and prompt she would possibly push for a board seat.
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Iron ore mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd confirmed on Tuesday that it had acquired a 7.72% stake in Liontown and mentioned it believed it may assist information mineral transformation and the corporate’s development. The Australian lithium miner’s shares have been buying and selling choppyly since Thursday above the A$3 per share supply worth that gave Albemarle 4 weeks of due diligence.
Hancock mentioned in a press release that it affords Liontown “the chance to leverage Hancock’s experience the place it’s helpful to help venture improvement and subsequent operations.”
“Hancock can contribute to the longer term path of Liontown alongside different Liontown shareholders, together with in relation to potential downstream value-add funding alternatives in Western Australia,” she added.
The phrases recommend a risk to thwart takeover plans by the world’s largest producer of what has change into the blockbuster industrial metallic. Perth-based Liontown has one of the crucial promising early-stage lithium initiatives in Australia, and has signed provide agreements with main automakers together with Tesla Inc. of Elon Musk and Ford Motor Co.
Hancock mentioned the venture “is a possible high-grade arduous rock lithium deposit within the improvement part, which nonetheless faces numerous vital dangers together with useful resource diversion, development implementation and mineral reclamation, however has the potential to function at scale.”
Liontown mentioned Sept. 4 that Albemarle had obtained due diligence after elevating its money supply by 20% in the very best and last supply. Shares of the Australian mining firm jumped 8.8% in Sydney that day.
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