Liontown shares slump as Rinehart flexes muscle
The Liontown Resources share price has slumped in a sign investors see little hope for Albemarle’s $6.6 billion takeover tilt at the lithium play after Gina Rinehart boosted her stake to 19.9 per cent.
Battery metals giant Albemarle now faces the prospect of having to work in partnership with Australia’s richest person or walking away from Liontown after a pursuit that started a year ago.
Gina Rinehart has boosted her stake in Liontown Resources to 19.9 per cent. Trevor Collens
The Liontown share price fell from around $3 – the mark for the Albemarle offer – to $2.90 on Wednesday before recovering slightly to $2.92.
The fall to its lowest point since early September came immediately after Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting completed its share-buying spree at $3.
Hancock said it had achieved its “strategic stake objective” after forking out another $101.75 million on Liontown stock to bring its total outlay to about $1.3 billion.
Australia’s biggest private company has signalled it has no intention of launching a rival takeover bid, but wants to contribute to the future of Liontown as a major shareholder or through a partnership arrangement.
It is understood there have been no talks to date between Hancock and Albemarle under “no shop, no talk” provisions as Albemarle completed a four-week period of due diligence on Liontown and its flagship Kathleen Valley lithium project in the northern Goldfields of Western Australia.
Hancock has said it is a long-term investor and wants to bring its mining and project development expertise to Kathleen Valley. It has also expressed an interest in lithium processing to make battery chemicals, an area where Albemarle is a world leader.
Mrs Rinehart is highly unlikely to back the
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