Wesfarmers, SQM hang around the hoop at Liontown Resources May...

Wesfarmers, SQM hang around the hoop at Liontown Resources
May 2, 2023 – 4.08pm
Here’s another twist in the race for M&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 Resources, chaired by Tim Goyder, says it has not received a new takeover proposal. Trevor Collensnone

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 little early).

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

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