Fin Review - Big buyer seeks Mineral Resources stake

Big buyer seeksMineral Resources stake

 

By Sarah Thompson & AnthonyMacdonald

STREET TALK

Nov 28 2018 at 5:10 PM

Updated Nov 28 2018 at 5:10 PM

 

There is a big buyer trying to get its hands on asignificant parcel of Mineral Resources shares. 

As first reported by Street Talk, one of thecountry's big brokers is calling around seeking a stake in the $2.7billion miner and mining services provider.

Fund manager sources said UBS was in the market onWednesday afternoon seeking a few hundred million dollars worth of shares.

It's believed the buyer is an "insider"with market sources pointing towards one of the company's cashed-updirectors. Multiplex heir and Perth billionaire Tim Roberts joinedthe board two years ago, while natural resources banker JamesMcClements took up a seat in 2015. 

Chris Ellison-led MinRes last traded 5.4per cent higher at $14.96. Wednesday's trade saw 2½ times normal volumechange hands, with UBS leading the broker market share. 

Sources said it was unlikely to be a corporatebuyer seeking the shares, given the blocking stake held by Mineral Resourcesmanagement including CEO Chris Ellison. 

The potential sale comes less than a week after Ellison struck adeal to sell a half-share in MinRes' Wodgina lithium project to battery metals giant Albemarle for a whopping $US1.15 billion ($1.6 billion).

 

MinRes and New York Stock Exchange-listed Albemarleare expected to finalise the Wodgina deal within weeks in what is amajor breakthrough for Ellison's plans to build a lithium hydroxide plant atthe mine about 100 kilometres from Port Hedland in WA's iron ore heartland.

Albemarle and MinRes will form a 50-50 jointventure to own and operate the hard rock mine and eventually an integratedlithium hydroxide plant.

The sale of the 50 per cent stake comes two yearsafter MinRes bought Wodgina for a song from Global Advanced Metals.

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