CATL Defeated by Rival in Millennium Lithium Acquisition

On Wednesday, Lithium Americas Corp announced its acquisition of Vancouver-headquarted Millennium Lithium for $400 million. This price is about 34% higher than the $299 million offer from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and nearly 43% higher than that of Ganfeng Lithium (GFL). In addition, American Lithium Industry will bear the liquidated damages of US$20 million payable to CATL.

Many large companies competed for acquiring Millennium Lithium, including CATL and GFL. As early as July 16, GFL announced to agree its wholly-owned subsidiary GFL International Co., Ltd. or the latter’s wholly-owned subsidiary to tender for Canada-based Millennium Lithium on its own funds, and the transaction amount would be less than C$353 million (about US$280 million).

On September 29th, CATL announced its signing of agreements on acquiring 100% equity of Millennium Lithium for C$377 million (about US$299 million). CATL paid Millennium Lithium’s termination fee of US$10 million to GFL.

On November 2, Lithium Americas announced to have submitted an unconditional offer to Millennium Lithium and intended to acquire all its tradable shares in cash plus equity. The offer suggested a total consideration for the transaction was about US$400 million.

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Millennium Lithium is incorporated in Canada and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company is mainly engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of lithium mining rights. Its main assets are Pastos Grandes Lithium Salt Lake Project in Salta, Argentina and Cauchari East Lithium Salt Lake Project in Jujuy, Argentina.