The mystery buyer of Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) shares has finally been revealed.
And it turns out that the rumours were true.
Who was buying Liontown shares?
According to an initial substantial shareholder notice released this morning, Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting have been snapping up the lithium developer's shares.
The notice reveals that Rinehart had been buying the company's shares since back in April and finally crossed the 5% substantial shareholder threshold last week with a flurry of purchases in response to the Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) takeover offer.
This leaves Hancock Prospecting with a sizeable 7.72% stake in the lithium developer.
Why was it buying shares?
Hancock Prospecting has released a statement on its website explaining why it snapped up Liontown shares.
The miner explained that its investment was strategic and saw opportunities to support the project. It remains unclear whether this is through a partnership or a full takeover. Hancock explains:
Liontown is the owner of the Kathleen Valley lithium project in West Australia (Project). The Project is a prospective high quality hard-rock lithium deposit in its development phase, which whilst still having a number of significant risks including resource conversion, construction execution and metallurgical recovery, has the potential to operate at scale.
This Shareholding provides Hancock with a strategic stake in Liontown, giving Liontown the opportunity to leverage Hancock's expertise where it is of value to support the Project's development and subsequent operations. Hancock can contribute to Liontown's future direction alongside other Liontown shareholders, including in relation to potential investment opportunities for downstream value add in West Australia.
Hancock also revealed that it may seek a position on Liontown's board following its investment.
Liontown has not commented on the development.
