Rinehart lifts Liontown stake with $132m share raid

afr.com:

Gina Rinehart has increased her strategic stake in Liontown Resources and further complicated battery chemical giant Albemarle’s $6.6 billion takeover tilt at the lithium prize.

Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting now holds a 10.69 per cent stake in Liontown, up from the 7.72 per cent disclosed on September 11, hot on the heels of the Liontown board accepting a $3-a-share takeover offer from Albemarle.

Gina Rinehart has bumped up her stake in Liontown. Trevor Collens

Mrs Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has been buying more of the stock at $3 since September 11, including forking out more than $132 million for about 44 million shares on Monday.

The share market raid came just hours before Hancock delivered a stinging assessment of Liontown’s ability to hit targets and successfully operate Australia’s first underground lithium mine.

Hancock said late on Monday that it wanted a big say in the future of Liontown while spelling out concerns about Liontown’s flagship Kathleen Valley project in the northern goldfields of Western Australia.

New York-listed Albemarle is about half-way through a four-week period of exclusive due diligence that is focused on progress at Kathleen Valley, which is partly built. Liontown said it would be in production in about nine months.

Hancock, which makes its money from iron ore mining in WA, said it had not bought any shares above the Albemarle asking price of $3 in acquiring its stake over a period when lithium prices have slumped.

Hancock cast doubt on whether Kathleen Valley could be delivered on time and budget, and operated successfully without its help.

“Whilst lithium prices have continued to fall since Hancock first became a Liontown shareholder – and with spodumene concentrate