Rio Tinto completes $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium

Compass Lexecon advised metal and mining company Rio Tinto on the merger control review of its acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, a global lithium chemicals producer. The transaction will strengthen Rio Tinto’s position in the market for energy transition materials. It was under investigation by multiple competition authorities globally. Rio Tinto completed the acquisition in early March 2025.

Situation

Rio Tinto, a global metal and mining company, agreed to purchase lithium miner Arcadium Lithium in October 2024. The acquisition would give Rio Tinto access to lithium mines, processing facilities and deposits in Argentina, Australia, Canada and the United States, making it the third largest lithium producer. Lithium is used for the production of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras as well as for electric vehicles. The transaction would therefore strengthen Rio Tinto’s footprint in the market for energy transition materials. The deal required regulatory approvals in multiple jurisdictions.

Our role

A Compass Lexecon team assisted Rio Tinto and its external legal counsel from Linklaters in context of merger control reviews by various national competition authorities globally, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. We analysed market shares for lithium products of different grades (e.g., carbonate, hydroxide) and at various levels of the supply chain (e.g., mining, chemical production), and assisted with responding to multiple RFIs.

Outcome

In early March 2025, Rio Tinto completed the acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, after all regulatory approvals had been obtained. This included merger control clearance being satisfied or waived in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as investment screening approval being satisfied in Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. The acquired entity will operate under the name Rio Tinto Lithium.

The team

The global Compass Lexecon team advising Rio Tinto was led by Neil Dryden, Sergey Khodjamirian and Hongjun Zhong, and included Joe Wang, Chris Marshall and Mads Andersen.

We worked together with a team from Linklaters, including Bruce Kilpatrick, Tom Clare and Zoe Cameron.