Lithium miners unearth shovel-ready $11 bln deal

Allkem

10/05/2023 16:29

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By George Hay
       LONDON, May 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Australia’s
Allkem and US peer Livent are uniting to create an
energy-transition titan. EV makers scrambling for battery
materials should like a combined explorer and processor with no
Chilean exposure. Bigger is strategically better, and helps the
merger stack up financially.
    Full view will be published shortly.
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    CONTEXT NEWS
    Australian lithium miner Allkem said on May 10 it would
merge with U.S.-based Livent in an all-stock deal to create a
$10.6 billion company producing key raw materials used in
electric-vehicle batteries.
    The combined company would be the fifth-largest lithium
producer in the world after Albemarle, Sociedad Quimica y Minera
de Chile, Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi Lithium.
    Under the terms of the transaction, Allkem shareholders will
get one share in the combined entity for each of their existing
shares and own 56% of the new company. Livent shareholders will
get 2.406 shares in the new company for each of their existing
shares.
    Livent CEO Paul Graves and Allkem Chairman Peter Coleman
will serve in the same respective roles at the combined company,
which will be primarily listed on the New York Stock Exchange
and seek inclusion on Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.
    Following the announcement, Livent shares increased 3.4% to
$25 in early trading on May 10. The Australian stock market was
closed.

 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Oliver Taslic)
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