Australia's richest woman joined, and the 30 billion lithium mine acquisition case of Albemarle may be uncertain

Interface News Reporter | Wang Yong

US lithium giant Albemarle Corp's $30 billion acquisition of Australian lithium producer Liontown Resources (Liontown) could be volatile due to the addition of Australia's richest woman.

According to a report by Bloomberg on October 10, Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has once again increased her stake in Liontown. Its stake in the lithium miner, Hancock Prospecting, has increased from 7.72% in mid-September to 18.36% currently, replacing mining tycoon Tim Goyder as Liontown's largest shareholder.

"Hancock will have the opportunity to participate as a shareholder in the Kathleen Valley lithium project and have an impact on the overall direction of the company going forward, including shareholder decisions. The company said.

Hancock was inherited from his father in 1992 and is known as the "Pioneer of the Australian Iron Ore Industry".

When Reinhardt took over, Hancock was in debt and struggling to operate. Reinhardt had accused his stepmother, Portius, of diverting assets from his father's family's accounts, and had a 14-year legal battle with his stepmother that continued to drag down the company's operations.

It wasn't until 2006 that the court finally ruled that Gina Reinhardt was the sole heir to Hancock.

Since 2004, Reinhardt has also begun to revitalize the company, expanding its operations into underexplored mines during his father's lifetime. Reinhardt now owns 70% of Roy Hill. It is a world-class iron ore mining company in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with an annual ore production capacity of 55 million tonnes.

In addition to iron ore resource development, Reinhardt has also extended its tentacles into coal mines in northern Austria, diversified into beef and dairy products, and has ownership interests in a number of prime cattle farms in north-west Australia.

In 2006, Reinhardt's net worth reached 1 billion Australian dollars (about 4.678 billion yuan), and she was named the country's first female billionaire by Australia's Business Week.

In 2011, Reinhardt's net worth reached 9 billion Australian dollars (about 42.1 billion yuan), and he was named the richest man in Australia by Forbes, and in the 2023 Hurun Global Rich List, Reinhardt ranked 43rd on the list with a wealth of 190 billion yuan.

Liontown, which is primarily engaged in the production of lithium ore and advanced materials, controls two major lithium mines in Western Australia, including the flagship Kathleen Valley project. The project is one of the world's largest and highest-grade hard rock lithium mines and is scheduled to start production in mid-2024.

In the tide of new energy vehicle development, Kathleen Valley lithium mineral products are not worrying about sales. Liontown has planned to work with Japan's Sumitomo to explore and research the use of lithium concentrate or lithium sulfate produced in Australia to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Japan in the next two years, and the company's lithium concentrate offtake customers include LG Chem, Tesla, Ford Motor and others.

Such a "fragrant bait" has attracted the attention of many parties. As the bid progressed, Liontown's board of directors announced on September 4 that it would support Albemarle's acquisition of the companyA new offer of A$6.6 billion (about 30.8 billion yuan) was made, equivalent to the purchase price of 3 Australian dollars (about 14 yuan) per share.

Liontown also said in a statement that Albemarle had secured exclusive due diligence for a limited period of time and had entered into a mutually acceptable plan implementation agreement. The due diligence permit, which began on Sept. 11, expires this week.

At the same time, Hancock has been increasing its stake in Liontown, which also puts Albemarle's big acquisition in suspense.

According to the Australian Financial Review, since April this year, Hancock's total acquisition of Liontown's shares has been close to 1.2 billion Australian dollars (about 5.614 billion yuan), of which most of the shares are purchased at 3 Australian dollars (about 14 yuan) per share, which is basically in line with Albemarle's takeover offer.

According to Reuters and other foreign media reports, Albemarle's acquisition of Liontown may need to be supported by 75% of the latter's shareholders if it wants to go through.

Since Hancock holds more than 18% of the shares, a 15%-20% stake usually means that a block can be given given the attendance of investors on the day of the shareholder meeting.

So far, Reinhardt has not said whether it supports or opposes Albemarle's takeover bid for Liontown. A Hancock spokesman also declined to comment on whether the increased stake would be used to block Albemarle's takeover bid.

In a statement, the company said it had no plans to nominate directors at Liontown's annual general meeting in November, but remained open to future possibilities, in particular "its strategic stake continues to increase to 19.9%". If Hancock holds more than 19.9% of the shares, it must announce its intention to invest in Liontown.

According to Bloomberg, the market is puzzled by Reinhardt's increase in stakes. Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar Research Services, said: "At the moment, Hancock has not made any significant moves other than buying shares, nor has he proposed any value-creating alternatives." ”

Hancock has expressed interest in providing mining support for Liontown's flagship Kathleen Valley lithium project and has expressed interest in lithium processing.