Good evening,

It seems Gina Rinehart is happy to eat billion-dollar lithium deals for breakfast. Right after Azure Minerals announced it had snared a $1.6 billion offer from Chilean giant SQM and returned the stock to trading, Rinehart stormed the market and began scooping up shares at between $3.49 and $3.50 apiece.

Her broker of choice, Euroz Hartleys, sent out plenty of correspondence to fund managers desperate for stock. One email read: “We are currently acting as a size buyer in AZS and looking for any active participants. Please reach out if you have any cares [sic] in selling and would like more colour.”

Some wily shareholders tried hocking their Azure shares at as high as $4 a share, but were turned back. The buying continued at the $3.50 mark throughout the day until about 5:30pm.
It was unclear how big a stake she had built in the end, but fund managers were being told Euroz had picked up at least 10 per cent by early afternoon.

Although the identity of the “size buyer” was officially not disclosed, it was more likely than not that Rinehart was toting out her Liontown Resources playbook again.

Only, this time SQM’s adviser, Macquarie and Freehills, have baked in enough protections to avoid a Liontown replay. Should Rinehart get past the 19 per cent mark, SQM’s scheme bid will fall away, but its takeover bid would stand.

Happy reading,

• Leaked internal accounts show Jarden’s Australian division recorded a pre-tax net loss of $NZ8.7 million in the six months to September 30, swamping the group.
• Cuscal has revealed details about its market share in core areas to prospective investors as it works to fix pricing for its IPO, raising more than $360 million, next week.
• Angus Aitken told clients Endeavour’s management and board needs to change because the company is too arrogant and the Dan Murphy’s strategy is confused.
• Webcentral has struck a binding deal to sell a majority stake in some of its assets for circa $165 million to a group of European buyers including Oakley Capital.

• Ted Pick will replace Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman after besting two other internal candidates, according to details published by the Financial Times.
• Gina Rinehart could spoil a $1.6 billion Chilean buyout deal for West Australian lithium hopeful Azure Minerals, the Financial Review’s mining team report.
• Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz are attempting to stop ARN Media’s purchase of Southern Cross Austereo, hoping instead to merge the group with their operations.

Cuscal’s biggest market share is in ATM transactions, where it has 21 per cent compared to the major banks’ 50 per cent, while its smallest is in taking credit card payments, where it has just 1 per cent of the total $3.3 billion pie.

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