CIC, ADM support buyout of Australian lithium producer
Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group, a Chinese lithium products manufacturer, has completed the acquisition of Australian miner Talison Lithium, with support from China Investment Corporation (CIC) and Hong Kong-based special situations group ADM Capital. The transaction values Talison at C$848 million ($836 million).
Tianqi already owned 19.9% of Talison and has purchased the balance through a scheme of implementation arrangement that completed in late March, using subsidiary Windfield Holdings.
CIC contributed C$300 million in equity in exchange for a 35% interest in Windfield, according to a regulatory filing. Tianqi and one of its subsidiaries received a further $320 million in debt financing from Credit Suisse and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). ADM-owned Twenty Two Dragons put up $50 million in mezzanine capital.
Toronto-listed Talison is headquartered in Perth and has more than 140 employees in Australia, Canada, Chile and China. It produces lithium concentrate at a project in Western Australia, exporting 350,000 metric tons of lithium products per year, and also has a lithium brine development in Chile'sAtacama region. Talison products are used in batteries, electric bicycles and vehicles as well as in aerospace alloys, wind turbines, glass and ceramics.
Tianqi specializes in lithium products, mining and agricultural machinery. One of its subsidiaries, Sichuan Tianqi Lithium Industry, is the world's largest lithium chemicals producer.
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