Australia regulator extends approval deadline for SQM-Hancock's $1.1 bln bid for Azure (updated)

Azure Minerals

03/04/2024 24:55

(Adds details on extension, context in paragraphs 2-5)
       April 3 (Reuters) - Australia's Azure Minerals  AZS.AX 
said on Wednesday the country's Foreign Investment Review Board
(FIRB) extended a deadline for approving SQM  SQMA.SN  and
Hancock Prospecting's A$1.7 billion ($1.11 billion) offer for
the lithium developer.
    The deadline for granting the approval has been extended to
April 30 from April 10.
    "This is a standard extension request and Azure is not
currently aware of any reason that the required FIRB approval
will not be received," the company said in a statement.
    Chilean miner SQM and Australia's richest person Gina
Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, already Azure's two largest
shareholders, teamed up in December to buy the lithium
developer.
    China's Tianqi Lithium Corp  002466.SZ  holds about 20% of
SQM shares, and the deal would give SQM, the world's No.2
lithium producer, a foothold in Australia with a stake in
Azure's Andover project.
    ($1 = 1.5354 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom
Hogue and Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Himanshi.Akhand@thomsonreuters.com;))