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“opportunistic”","albemarles-3-7-billion-offer-for-aussie-lithium-miner-liontown-rejected-as-opportunistic","article/albemarles-3-7-billion-offer-for-aussie-lithium-miner-liontown-rejected-as-opportunistic",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":559,"content":569,"excerpt":679,"featured":50,"reporter":680,"_editable":684,"component":685,"seo_title":543,"categories":686,"visibility":692,"author_company":49,"featured_image":693,"seo_description":679,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":698,"formattedArticleDate":699},"7f11b9d8-cfd9-43cb-a4a9-584ba2c2ca9c","2023-03-28 00:00",[550,553,556],{"slug":551,"name":552},"albemarle","Albemarle",{"slug":554,"name":555},"australia","Australia",{"slug":557,"name":558},"liontown-resources","Liontown Resources",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":563},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":564,"image":565,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":566},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":570,"content":571},"doc",[572,579,584,599,604,609,614,621,626,639,644,649,654,659,664,669,674],{"type":573,"attrs":574,"content":575},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":578},"Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, has made a A$5.5 billion ($3.7) billion bid for Australian lithium miner Liontown Resources, which was rejected by the company on Tuesday as “opportunistic.” ","text",{"type":573,"attrs":580,"content":581},{"textAlign":49},[582],{"text":583,"type":578},"The offer from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle comes as lithium prices continue to fall, with Chinese spot lithium carbonate prices down by almost half since November.",{"type":573,"attrs":585,"content":586},{"textAlign":49},[587,589,597],{"text":588,"type":578},"The deal would boost Albemarle’s access to spodumene to produce battery grade materials at its lithium hydroxide refineries in Australia or China, and allow it to leverage Liontown’s previously announced ",{"text":590,"type":578,"marks":591},"off-take agreements",[592],{"type":593,"attrs":594},"link",{"href":595,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":596},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/ford-follows-tesla-playbook-with-liontown-lithium-deal","url",{"text":598,"type":578}," with Tesla, Ford and LG Energy Solution.",{"type":573,"attrs":600,"content":601},{"textAlign":49},[602],{"text":603,"type":578},"Liontown is developing the Kathleen Valley lithium project in Australia, which is set to have capacity to produce around 500,000 tonnes a year of spodumene, with first production due next year. ",{"type":573,"attrs":605,"content":606},{"textAlign":49},[607],{"text":608,"type":578},"The company has already secured customers for 90% of its future supply, through the offtake agreements. ",{"type":573,"attrs":610,"content":611},{"textAlign":49},[612],{"text":613,"type":578},"“It is cheaper to buy an advanced asset now than to develop one, particularly with inflation,” Cameron Perks, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":615,"attrs":616,"content":618},"heading",{"level":617,"textAlign":49},4,[619],{"text":620,"type":578},"Liontown rejects “opportunistic” deal ",{"type":573,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":578},"Liontown said Albemarle’s offer “substantially undervalues” the company and is opportunistic given the recent fall in lithium equity prices.",{"type":573,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629,631,637],{"text":630,"type":578},"Chinese battery-grade ",{"text":632,"type":578,"marks":633},"lithium carbonate prices have fallen",[634],{"type":593,"attrs":635},{"href":636,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":596},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/chinese-lithium-prices-almost-halve-from-november-peak-as-demand-weakens",{"text":638,"type":578}," 43% since hitting an all time high of RMB 569,000 ($81,965) a tonne in November, according to Benchmark Lithium Price Assessment. ",{"type":573,"attrs":640,"content":641},{"textAlign":49},[642],{"text":643,"type":578},"It also said it doesn’t take into account the “significant de-risking” that has occurred at the Kathleen Valley lithium project in recent months, as well as the future growth potential of the project. ",{"type":573,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":578},"“There are few other lithium assets of this scale, quality and mine life this close to production in Australia, one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions in the world,” it said. ",{"type":573,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":578},"Albemarle, however, said the offer was a 63% premium to Liontown’s closing share price on Monday. ",{"type":573,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":578},"It allowed Liontown shareholders to “avoid future risks associated with project development and operations,” the company said. ",{"type":573,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":578},"“Albemarle believes this is a compelling opportunity for Liontown shareholders and that Liontown’s board should immediately engage with Albemarle to facilitate a binding offer to be put to its shareholders for their consideration,” Albemarle said. ",{"type":615,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"level":617,"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":578},"Third time lucky ",{"type":573,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":578},"Albemarle has previously made two advances to buy Liontown, according to the company. The lithium producer on Tuesday made a fresh all-cash offer of A$2.5 a share, slightly higher than the A$2.35 a share offer on March 3 and A$2.2 a share offer made in October. ",{"type":573,"attrs":675,"content":676},{"textAlign":49},[677],{"text":678,"type":578},"Liontown said that it had become aware that Liontown RT Lithium, a subsidiary of Albemarle, has been building a stake in Liontown through on-market purchase and owns 2.2% of Liontown’s issued shares.","Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, has made a A$5.5 billion ($3.7) billion bid for Australian lithium miner Liontown Resources, which was rejected by the company on Tuesday as “opportunistic.” The offer from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle comes as lithium prices continue to fall, with Chinese spot lithium carbonate prices down by almost half since […]",[681],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":682},{"job_title":564,"image":683,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},{"filename":566},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"7f11b9d8-cfd9-43cb-a4a9-584ba2c2ca9c\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[687,690],{"slug":688,"name":689},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":691,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":694,"name":694,"focus":694,"title":694,"source":694,"filename":695,"copyright":694,"fieldtype":696,"meta_data":697,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/b7f714d64d/bm-liontown-resources.jpg","asset",{"alt":694,"title":694,"source":694,"copyright":694},"Mar 28, 2023","28th March 2023",[],[],1786694256772]