Good News & Bad News, page-28282

Ano

Wesfarmers, SQM hangaround the hoop at Liontown Resources

Here’s another twist in the race forM&A target Liontown Resources.

The Perth-based lithium miner’s would-be suitor, whose presence Street Talk revealed on Monday evening, is doing the work on a tilt but is yet to formalise the interest and submit a firm proposal.

Liontown on Tuesday said it had not received a new proposal,even a non-binding indicative one. (We admit it, we may have been a littleearly).

The unidentified party has been doing work on the lithiumexplorer, which has played hard to get with North American giant Albemarle.Liontown has rejected three bids from NYSE-listed lithium giant, the mostrecent of which was at $2.50 a share, or a 67 per cent premium

On Tuesday morning, well-placedsources were pointing to Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers and Chileanlithium giant SQM as the mystery suitor or suitors weighing a bid. It isunclear whether the pair were working together or separately, although theirlithium joint venture in Western Australia suggests the former. Either way, theparties have been “monitoring Liontown for some time,” those sources said.

Equally, it remains to be seen ifthe preliminary interest firms up into a tangible proposal that would requiredisclosure. A spokeswoman for Wesfarmers declined to comment.

Liontown shares are up nearly 127 per cent this year and tradingat their highest levels in its history.

Chile’s SQM is one of the world’s largest producers of lithium.Its biggest Australian lithium asset is joint venture with Wesfarmers at MtHolland in WA, which was previously owned by ASX-listed Kidman Resources.

SQM has also built up to a 19.9 per cent stake in base metals and gold microcap Azure Metals. At Mt Holland, the duo are building a 50,000-tonne-a-year hydroxide plant with longer-term plans that coulddouble its size.

Wesfarmers has been public in expressing its M&A interest in critical minerals assets.

ther twist mayo - whoo ha