Daily Brief Australia: Liontown Resources, United Malt Group Ltd, Aft Pharmaceuticals and more

• Lithium play Liontown Resources (LTR AU) has now thrice rejected Albemarle Corp (ALB US)‘s proposals. 
• Liontown has labeled Albermarle’s third bid of A$2.50/share as opportunistic. 
• Albemarle has picked up 2.2% in Liontown. But that is dwarfed by Tim Goyder’s (chairman)’s 15% stake, who is not engaged at the current bid price. 

• Liontown Resources (LTR AU) has rejected an unsolicited non-binding privatisation proposal from Albemarle Corp (ALB US) at A$2.50 per share, which is a 63.9% premium to the undisturbed price (27 March).
• The offer is attractive in comparison to peer multiples and historical share prices. Liontown suggests that the offer does not appropriately value the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project.
• A bump to the Board’s desired A$3.00 offer is justifiable based on the Kathleen Valley NPV sensitivity analysis related to spodumene prices. Albemarle remains willing to engage. 

• United Malt Group Ltd (UMG AU) has granted privately-held Fench rival Malteries Soufflet due diligence on an exclusive basis after receiving an indicative Offer by way of a Scheme.
• Malteries Soufflet’s non-binding proposal for the Graincorp Ltd A (GNC AU)-spin-off of $5.00/share is a 45.3% premium to undisturbed.
• The Offer will be subject to FIRB approval. Malteries Soufflet and United Malt are the second and fourth-largest maltsters in the world.

AFT Pharmaceuticals (AFT) has announced that it has signed three additional licensing agreements for Maxigesic IV – with Labatec in Switzerland and Pharma Bavaria in Argentina and Paraguay. The product franchise continues its international expansion, with the deals following the recent launches of Maxigesic IV in five European countries. To date (FY23, ending 31 March) AFT’s flagship product, Maxigesic, is available in 61 countries (across all dose forms), up 15 from the prior year. This is marginally lower than the target of 63 countries for FY23, but the company also announced achieving its first product registration in China with Crystawash Extend, its long-lasting sanitiser. China launches are generally highly sought after, and this announcement should provide access to the larger offline retail and hospitals segments (c 75% of the over-the-counter (OTC) market in China). Currently AFT only has an online retail presence in China (under the Cross Border E-Commerce OTC scheme).