New owner for Arcadium

Mining giant Rio Tinto has agreed to acquire Arcadium Lithium, the company created by the merger of Livent and Allkem in January, for $5.85/share, which represents a 90% premium to Arcadium’s share price before the deal was announced. The offer values the firm at about $6.7 billion. Both boards have recommended it to shareholders.

“We are confident that this is a compelling cash offer that reflects a full and fair long-term value for our business and de-risks our shareholders’ exposure to the execution of our development portfolio and market volatility,” said Arcadium CEO Paul Graves.

The combined entity will be one of the world’s largest lithium producers. Arcadium is described as “a global, fast-growing, vertically integrated lithium chemicals producer with an asset base of long-life, low-cost operations and growth projects”. It has 75,000 tonnes/year of capacity for lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and other products, and employs about 2,400 people worldwide.