Australia’s Talison Lithium recommends Chengdu Tianqi’s sweetened $815 mn offer

Australian miner Talison Lithium yesterday agreed to be acquired by Chengdu Tianqi Industrial Group (Tianqi) for $C848 million ($815 million) after the Chinese group sweetened its offer to outbid an agreed C$724 million ($725 million) rival bid from Rockwood Holdings.

The board of Perth-based Lithium miner said that it has approved Tianqi's $C7.50 a share, offer, a 15-per cent premium to a Rockwood's offer.

In late August, Princetown, New Jersey-based Rockwood, a specialty chemicals and advanced materials company, had offered to buy Talison for C$6.50 per share in cash or C$724 million.

Last month Tianqi purchased a 16.11-per cent stake in Talison from the market and a few days later tabled a $C7.15 a share bid, which was a premium of 10 per cent to Rockwood's offer.

Tianqi's offer includes signed commitment letters for funding the deal from China Development Bank and an ADM Capital advised lender.

Chengdu Tianqi, the sole distributor of Talison's technical-grade lithium concentrate in China, recently said that it had received Australian regulatory approval for the takeover.