Pinned straw:
Good pick up @Parko5 - I would have thought that somebody would have accumulated a blocking stake or something close to it in Lynas by now, but the largest shareholder appears to be Challenger (CGF.asx) with 7.07%, then some prime brokers and ETF providers (State Street & Vanguard) with 6.37% and 5%. Ausbill has 5.14% and Greencape Capital has 5.04%, so if they worked together that could be a blocking stake, put on the surface it looks like the ownership structure is fairly loose and Gina could likely build a controlling position without too much trouble.
Gina and her company Hancock Prospecting have already become Lynas' third largest shareholders with just the 5.82% initial position announced today. Only State Street (6.37%) and Challenger (7.07%) are ahead of her.
She could be trying to get some skin in the game of the opposition seeing as how she is the largest shareholder in ARU and appears to be driving their strategy now, or she could have a grander plan to merge some of these companies to create an even bigger threat to Chinese control of the REO market, as you have alluded to Parko.
This slide (slide 4) from the recent ARU-Mineral-Sands-and-Rare-Earths-Conference-Presentation.PDF [19-March-2024] gives us all we need to know about why:
They have been ringing the changes at ARU recently:
- Arafura-announces-executive-leadership-changes.PDF [10-April-2024]
- ARU-Appointment-of-Non-Executive-Directors.PDF [03-April-2024]
Further Reading:
Rinehart’s MP Buy Could Trigger Rare Earths Mining Mega Merger (forbes.com)
Arafura Rare Earths obtains $840 million government funding boost - ShareCafe
Gina Rinehart | Gina Rinehart News, Philanthropy and Charity Work
Interesting that Marketscreener.com lists Gina as the largest holder of ARU and the Chinese Government as the second largest holder, with Gina owning exactly double what the Chinese Government apparently hold (in ARU):
It's interesting, Gina is Australia's richest person now, so she can do whatever she likes really. First Iron Ore, then Lithium, then Rare Earth Oxides (REOs), I wonder what else she has in her sights.
She also has substantial farmland and other real estate assets and owns businesses such as Driza-Bone and Rossi Boots.
It would be nice to be that rich that you can pretty much do whatever you want. I know she inherited a fair chunk of her wealth from her father (Lang Hancock) who was one of the Pilbara iron ore pioneers, but she hasn't frittered away that money, she's made a lot more money with what she had. And she's given fellow Western Australian billionairs like Andrew ("Twiggy") Forrest and Kerry Stokes a good run for their money, often coming out on top over both of them, not that it's a pissing contest, but sometimes it seems like it might be...