Gina Rinehart set to spoil SQM’s $1.6b scheme bid for Azure Minerals
Stockbroker Euroz Hartleys was hoovering up shares in lithium play Azure Minerals on Thursday morning, after the company signed a binding deed with Chilean giant SQM at $3.50 a share.
Gina Rinehart may have found herself another lithium darling. Trevor Collens
By 1:15pm, it had traded nearly 64.9 million shares in Azure Minerals at $3.50 or $3.49 apiece, which is bang next to the bid price. The identity of the buyer was not known.
It represented about 14.5 per cent of the company.
However, last time that combination happened – Euroz buying stock at bid levels in a lithium M&A target – it was iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart behind the buying. She built a 19.99 per cent stake at Liontown Resources, which eventually flattened out the $3-a-share bid as Albemarle walked citing complexities in getting a deal done. Liontown had to launch an emergency capital raising at $1.80 a share.
The big question is what influence Rinehart could exert on SQM’s $1.6 billion bid for Azure Minerals.
SQM baked in a condition which dictates its binding scheme bid won’t be valid if any shareholder, other than itself, acquired a greater than 19 per cent interest in Azure.
Should that happen, SQM’s bid would switch to an off-market takeover, which is not subject to the 19 per cent condition. We’ll call that bulletproofing the deal against Rinehart’s lethal playbook at Liontown.
It may mean instead of getting 100 per cent of the company via the scheme bid, SQM may walk away with a slice of it instead under the takeover.
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