On August 8, 2018, Tianqi Lithium was invited to the 2018 Conference of "the most globalized Chinese enterprise - Global Challengers List", which was hosted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is the first time that Tianqi Lithium has been shortlisted in BCG Top 100 Global Challengers. The ward recognizes the company's foresight and courage of laying out its internationalization strategy, its global resource distribution, and its efforts to transform the global new energy materials industry.
Leading the Way
Reviewing the development course of Tianqi Lithium, merger and acquisition, a measure taken in line with the company's development strategy, is one of the key approaches that have helped the company to be in the lead. In 2014, the company indirectly controlled Talison Lithium by acquiring 51% of the equity of Windfield Holdings Pty Ltd, the parent company of Talison. As a result, Tianqi owns the world's leading lithium ore resources. After the acquisition, the performance of Talison Lithium has steadily improved thanks to various production expansions. In the latest approved production expansion project, the annual production of chemical lithium concentrate of Talison Lithium reached 1.8 million tons in 2021. Moreover, Talison Lithium always adheres to the highest corporate governance standards and devotes itself to maintaining local community relations by strictly complying with environmental protection and safety standards, making continuous contributions to the development of community, environment and economy.
Nowadays, Tianqi Lithium has become the world's leading supplier of lithium products, whose customers are all over the world. The success of international strategy and the realization of vertically integrated business model could be attributed to the timely and important merger and acquisition measures in that year. As a matter of fact, merger and acquisition, which is in line with the strategic development of enterprises, is a must for the rapid rise of enterprises. BCG's "2018 Top 100 Global Challengers Report" summarized three main impetuses of global digital economy in emerging markets, and “M&A plus private investment" was one of them. The report noted that leading emerging markets are hunting for strategic investments to expand their businesses or develop new features more quickly. Global challengers have made about 2,400 acquisitions or investments since 2013.
The future is promising
As Tianqi Lithium continues to globalize, the company remains its leading position. Tianqi Lithium invested in a two-phased project: "Battery-grade Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate with an annual output of 24,000 tons" in Kwinana, Western Australia. This would combine the company's industry expertise with the location advantage of Talison Lithium and thus create development opportunities for Australia to increase the added value of the local lithium industry. Moreover, in addition to the recently announced SQM share acquisition plan, the company keeps up on the investment of the global new generation lithium battery technology, contributing to the technological sustainability of the new energy industry.
The series of measures aims to further deepen the the company’s internationalization strategy. They also reflect the company's positive outlook on the future new energy industry. In recent years, the adjustment of energy structure and the rise of electric vehicles have brought strong demands in the downstream firms. This puts forward high requirements for the quality and quantity of lithium resources supply. Therefore, high-quality lithium resources and products will still be the main impetus for supply. Based on the industry trend, Tianqi Lithium focuses on continuous internationalization in the lithium industry, which is a far-sighted move.
"Tianqi Lithium will further promote its international development in multiple dimensions while maintaining its leading position in the industry," said Song Yu, director of Strategic Development of Tianqi Lithium. "We not only allocate resources on a global scale, but also run the company based on global standards. Our aim is to be an international leader in the new energy materials industry with lithium industry as the core. We will be committed to development and not hesitate to take the initiative. We will contribute to the transformation of the global new energy materials industry."
Overview of BCG Top 100 Global Challengers List
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global consulting firm and the world's leading business strategy consulting organization, with clients in private, public and non-profit organizations in all regions. According to quantitative and qualitative criteria, BCG selects those with annual revenues of at least 1 billion dollars, who possess more than 1,000 employees and growth rates that exceed their domestic market GDP or industry averages, and whose EBIT is no less than the industry average. They should also be strong internationally influential enterprises with more than 10% of international sales or more than 500 million US dollars of international M&A transactions as well as the ambition to become a truly global enterprise.
