Albemarle offers to sell entire stake in Liontown after failed $4.3bn bid

17th January 2024 By: Reuters

Albemarle offers to sell entire stake in Liontown after failed $4.3bn bid

An Albemarle unit has put on sale its entire stake in Australia's Liontown Resources, a term sheet showed on Wednesday, after the US-based firm withdrew its proposed A$6.6-billion bid for the lithium developer.

Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, has offered about 96-million shares of Liontown for about A$121-million in a block trade, the term sheet showed. The shares represent about 4% of Liontown's shares on issue.

The issue price of A$1.26 to A$1.32 per share represents a discount of 7.4% to 2.9% to Liontown's last traded price of A$1.36 on Wednesday.

In October, Albemarle abandoned its bid for Liontown amid "growing complexities" after Hancock Prospecting, an iron ore miner controlled by Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, raised its stake in Liontown high enough to block the bid.