[ferro-alloys.com]China’s Tianqi Lithium Corp., one of the world’s biggest lithium producers, said on Monday its controlling shareholder planned to sell around a sixth of its holding, which could raise more than $200 million in much-needed cash.

Tianqi has admitted liquidity problems following a deep fall in prices for lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries.

It said on Friday it was talking to banks about easing the terms of its debt, which includes a $3.5 billion loan to buy a stake in Chilean miner SQM in 2018.

Chengdu Tianqi Industry Group, which holds 36.04% in Tianqi Lithium, will sell up to 88.6 million shares, or 6% of the company’s stock, from July 3, according to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, with the sale to be completed within six months.

A stake of up to 2% will be sold via competitive bidding, while up to 4% will be sold via a block trade, at prices that are still to be determined, said the filing, adding the purpose of the move was to repay debt the parent had incurred by pledging a large chunk of its shares in Tianqi.

Tianqi’s Shenzhen-traded stock closed down 4.3% on Monday and has slumped more than 43% so far in 2020 as the severity of the company’s debt problems became clear.

At Monday’s closing price of 17.28 yuan ($2.43), the sale of a 6% stake would fetch around 1.53 billion yuan ($215.15 million).

Prices for lithium carbonate have fallen by more than 70% since Tianqi agreed to splash out $4.1 billion on the SQM stake two years ago as supply swamped demand, which has now been hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Chengu Tianqi Industry Group will remain the controlling shareholder after the selldown, which will not impact Tianqi’s structure or operations, the filing said.

(Mining.com)

• [Editor:王可]