The sale does not affect the battery maker’s access to lithium supplies from Pilbara Minerals. Credit: Hands off my tags! Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

China-based battery maker CATL has signed a A$601m ($405.31m) deal to divest a 4.9% stake in Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals to an undisclosed firm, reported Reuters, citing a term sheet it reviewed.

In 2019, CATL acquired the holding for A$0.30 cents per share amid the lithium market decline.

The Chinese firm has now offloaded the stake at A$4.10 a share in a block trade.

This sale involves 146 million shares and equates to A$555m net for CATL from its original investment.

Goldman Sachs and UBS served as bookrunners for the transaction.

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In 2020, Pilbara Minerals signed a five-year lithium offtake agreement with battery chemicals maker Yibin Tianyi Lithium, which is a joint venture of CATL, Canmax, and Tianyuan Group.

Recently, Pilbara Minerals and Korean major POSCO joint venture company POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution secured a debt facility of $460m with Korean government-owned banks to fund the development of the 43,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate (LHM) chemical facility in South Korea.

The debt facility, which comprises both a fixed and variable interest rate, has a seven-year term.

The first 21,500tpa train at the chemical facility is planned to be commissioned in late CY2023.

Ln January 2023, Reuters reported that Bolivia selected a consortium led by CATL to develop the country’s significant lithium reserves and unlock its potential as a supplier of lithium for batteries.