Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) has appointed brokers to sell its stake in Liontown Resources Limited (ASX:LTR), three months after Hancock Prospecting effectively blocked its $6.6 billion takeover bid. JP Morgan was looking to sell Albemarle's 4% stake after the market closed, at prices ranging from $1.26 per share to $1.32 per share. With Albemarle holding 96 million Liontown shares, the deal will be worth about $125 million.

The planned sale will be at a loss for Albemarle, which was understood to have acquired its stake at an average entry price of $2.35 per share. Albemarle attempted four times to acquire Liontown, which is developing the Kathleen Valley lithium mine in the Goldfields. The mine would have provided a new supply for Albemarle's downstream processing operations, including its lithium refinery at Kemerton in the South West.

It lodged indicative proposals at $2.20 per share in October 2022, $2.35 in March 2023 and $2.50 later that month. It appeared to have succeeded in September when the Liontown board backed its fourth proposal - a takeover bid priced at $3 per share. However Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, ended the party after her private company Hancock Prospecting acquired a 19.9% blocking stake.

Albemarle scrapped its takeover bid in mid-October, triggering a collapse in Liontown's share price and forcing the company to complete an equity and debt raising to ensure it could complete construction at Kathleen Valley. Hancock has retained its 19.9% stake but has been silent on its intentions.