If Delta shares keep on going gangbusters, I wonder whether they will use this to launch something like a one Delta share for every 1.5 ESS shares takeover offer. That would require issuing 178m new Delta shares to add to the 451m currently issued. If successful, Essential shareholders would own 28% of the enlarged company.
MIN may well be receptive to this because they would own another 5.5% of Delta on top of the circa 2% already bought on-market and with only a small additional purchase they could get to 10% hostile takeover blocking stake
Long-term ESS shareholders may well be receptive to it as they could preserve CGT carry-over benefits
Those keen on exploration and development lithium company exposure would probably be prepared to shift into being part of a larger Delta group and its plans to use DSO sales as a pathway to building concentration plants
Delta's shareholders are likely to back Flanagan's judgement on value and he's already said that he thinks ESS is undervalued
Potential off-take discussions would be improved due to the increased scale Delta would have
I know its s t o c k h e a d, but a recent article by them included the commentary below: Disc - hold Delta shares