Baker McKenzie FenXun Provides Legal Services to Ganfeng Lithium on Its Acquisition of Lithea

Baker McKenzie FenXun (Shanghai Free Trade Zone) Joint Operation Office (hereinafter referred to as “Baker McKenzie FenXun”) provided legal consulting services to Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Ganfeng Lithium” or “the Company”) on its acquisition of 100% of the shares of Lithea, a lithium mining group with its main business located in Argentina, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Ganfeng International for no more than US$962 million.

Lithea is mainly engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of lithium mining rights. Its main asset, the PPG project, is a lithium salt lake project located in Salta Province, Argentina, including two high-quality lithium salt lake assets, Pozuelos and Pastos Grandes.

Ganfeng Lithium said in a statement: "This transaction will help the company further strengthen its upstream lithium resource layout, improve its resource self-sufficiency rate, enhance its core competitiveness, and is in line with the company's upstream and downstream integration and new energy vehicle industry development strategy."

Baker McKenzie FenXun assembled a multi-jurisdictional team of transaction experts for the transaction. The team was led by Zhang Hong, head of the private equity business department. Team members included Roberto Grané, M&A partner of Baker McKenzie Buenos Aires and Lewis Popoff, M&A partner of Baker McKenzie Chicago, foreign law firms of Baker McKenzie FenXun’s joint operation platform; as well as Leo Zhang, senior counsel of Baker McKenzie FenXun, Mia Liang, and Ezequiel Artola, a lawyer of Baker McKenzie Buenos Aires.

Commenting on the transaction, Zhang Hong, Head of Private Equity at Baker McKenzie FenXun, said: “The continued development of the new energy industry has led to an increasing demand for lithium in the market. This landmark transaction has laid a solid foundation for our clients to continue to meet this growing demand in the future. We are very pleased to assist our clients in completing this strategically important transaction with our strong cross-border transaction experience and deep local expertise. This transaction also fully demonstrates our unique platform of ‘deploying a global resource network and deepening the local legal market’, and also demonstrates our team’s strong ability to serve clients on their complex cross-jurisdictional matters.”