The Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) share price was in fine form in the last financial year.
During the 12 months, the lithium developer's shares rose almost 170%.
To put that into context, that would have turned a $20,000 investment into $54,000.
Unsurprisingly, this meant that Liontown shares smashed the ASX 200 return, which rose 9.7% over the period.
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Why did the Liontown share price smash the market?
There were a few catalysts for the strong gain by the Liontown share price in FY 2023.
The first was the positive progress the company made at the Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia. Management revealed that the project remains on course to deliver its first lithium production in mid-2024.
In addition, the company revealed that it has optimised its plant capacity design to deliver a 20% increase in the initial plant throughput rate to 3 Mtpa from 2.5 Mtpa. This decision was made to take advantage of strong short and medium-term forecast lithium pricing.
What else?
But the biggest driver of the Liontown share price gain in FY 2023 was of course the receipt of a takeover approach from lithium giant Albemarle Corp (NYSE: ALB).
In March, Albemarle made an unsolicited, conditional, and non-binding indicative proposal to acquire Liontown at a price of $2.50 per share via a scheme of arrangement. This followed previously undisclosed bids of $2.20 per share in October and $2.35 per share on 3 March.
And while management swiftly rejected the proposal, labelling it "opportunistic", the offer appears to have put a floor under the Liontown share price for the time being.
Shareholders will no doubt be crossing their fingers that the company's shares fare even half as well in the new financial year. Time will tell if that is the case.
