Wesfarmers' proposed takeover of Kidman Resources is well out of the retail behemoth's usual modus operandi. Kidman is, after all, a speculative lithium play that (despite already supplying lithium hydroxide to Elon Musk's Tesla) is five years away from a profit. So, it's hardly flogging shovels and buckets at Bunnings.

And if some blue chip institutional investors are jittery about the proposed acquisition, the unconventional history of Kidman chief Martin Donohue won't give them comfort.