Albemarle will acquire Chinese lithium company

The specialty chemical maker Albemarle has agreed to acquire China’s Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials for about $200 million. Founded in 2017, Tianyuan recently opened a facility near the Port of Qinzhou in Guangxi, China, where it can convert raw lithium carbonate into 25,000 metric tons (t) per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. Albemarle already has lithium operations in Chile, Australia, and the US. In a report on the acquisition, the investment firm Jefferies Group says Albemarle’s lithium carbonate capacity is 85,000 t currently and will increase to 175,000 t by the first quarter of 2022 after expansions in Chile and Australia. An expansion in the US is also in the works. Despite investments by Albemarle and other lithium producers, Jefferies expects capacity for lithium chemicals to trail demand at least through 2026, thanks to the auto industry’s embrace of electric vehicles, which rely on lithium-ion batteries.