Albemarle nears $4.3 billion deal to buy Australian lithium miner Liontown: report

Liontown Resources Ltd.
LTR,
+9.92%,
an Australian lithium miner, is supporting a $4.3 billion buyout offer by North Carolina-based specialty chemicals giant Albemarle Corp.
ALB,
+0.78%,
Bloomberg News reported Sunday. Albemarle boosted its offer, originally submitted in March, to a 15% premium to Friday’s closing price, Bloomberg said. Liontown had originally rebuffed Albemarle’s offer, but the company’s board said Monday it would recommend the new bid, according to Bloomberg. Albemarle is the world’s biggest producer of lithium — a metal that is key in the making of electric-vehicle batteries — and earlier this year announced a $1.3 billion investment in a lithium hydroxide facility to be located in South Carolina. Albemarle shares are down nearly 8% year to date.