Here's the article that is being referenced in AFR:
Lithium miners caught in M&A wave; who's next?
Sarah Thompson and
Anthony Macdonald
It's amazing how often one M&A deal in a commodity brings two.
It doesn't matter if it is gold, coal, copper or what, diggers love dealing and can't shake a dose of deal fever.
And now the spotlight is firmly on the lithium and other battery minerals sector, with $40 billion Wesfarmers the protagonist.
First Wesfarmers bid for Mineral Resources' Wodgina Lithium Project, then it turned its sights to ASX-listed Lynas Corp and
now its Kidman Resources'turn
(as Street Talk predicted on April 9).
Assuming Wesfarmers is done - or at least has its hands full for now with two bids on the go - the question is where the deal fever spreads.
The domestic industry player with the new-found cash is Western Australia-headquartered Galaxy Resources, which has about $400 million in the bank and appears ready to mingle.
Galaxy Resources shares have been hit hard in the past year over concerns their Australian operations are low grade - and it is at the point where the company's market value has dropped to about $600 million.
One way for Galaxy to win back listed equity investors' favour would be to improve the quality of its Australian operations - or at least be seen to be trying.
And one option could be fellow ASX-listed lithium and tantalum producer Alliance Minerals Assets Ltd, the company that gained an ASX-listing last year via a merger with Tawana Resources, which has the highest quality concentrate in the market.
Alliance Minerals just announced record production at its Bald Hill project - and was likely to have just had its first operative cashflow positive quarter. Broker Canaccord - admittedly an Alliance Minerals Assets bull - reckons the company arguably had the best March quarter of any of its lithium peers.
Galaxy could blend the two companies' material - both export through Esperance Port - and already knows the smaller producer well.
Street Talk is not suggesting a deal is imminent or that talks are under way, but smarter minds than ours reckon a tie up most certainly makes sense and Galaxy boss Anthony Tse would've at least thought about it.
As always, a lot would come down to price. And the door may be open on that front; dual-listed Alliance Minerals Assets local shares closed at 17¢ on Thursday to be down 33 per cent this year.
