Rinehart lifts stake in Liontown to become largest shareholder

The news: Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has increased its stake further to become the largest shareholder in lithium producer Liontown Resources, amidst a takeover bid by US battery chemicals giant Albemarle.

The numbers: Liontown confirmed late on Friday that Hancock had lifted its stake to 16.7% from 14.67% previously, making it the largest shareholder in the company. Liontown shares closed at $2.99 on Friday, just shy of Albemarle’s offer price of $3 a share.

The context: The latest increase brings Rinehart a step closer to being able to block Albemarle's bid for Liontown, which is developing the Kathleen Valley project in WA in one of the world’s biggest lithium projects. Albemarle completed an exclusive four-week due diligence last week and is expected to clarify soon if it will push ahead with the proposal. In a separate statement, Hancock welcomed the opportunity to have an influence on the company’s overall future direction and said it remained open to nominating directors to Liontown’s board in the future, “particularly if its strategic stake continues to increase towards 19.9 per cent.”