Chinese shareholder nears takeover of UK Bacanora Lithium

Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd (SHE:002460) on Friday declared unconditional its buyout of London-based lithium miner Bacanora Lithium Plc (LON:BCN) after receiving clearance from antitrust authorities in Mexico.

Ganfeng, which already owns 28.9% of the target company, said it has so far received acceptances for 172.9 million Bacanora shares, representing about 45% of its share capital. Together, that makes up 73.9% of Bacanora's equity, with 75% required to complete the takeover.

The offer becoming unconditional has paved the way for Bacanora shareholders to receive shares in Zinnwald Lithium, the London-listed company that owns projects in Germany and Ireland for the production of downstream battery-grade lithium products to the European electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage markets.

In August, Bacanora and Ganfeng reached agreement on the terms of the transaction, which values the entire target company at GBP 284.8 million (USD 378.7m/EUR 334.2m). Under the terms, the UK company's shareholders will receive 67.5 pence in cash and 0.23589 Zinnwald shares for each unit held.

Shares in Bacanora, which has a market capitalisation of GBP 259.3 million, were without substantial change on Monday, trading at 62.75 pence apiece.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.330/EUR 1.174)

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