Botswana Goes Ahead with HB Purchase
February 08, 24
(IDEX Online) - The government of Botswana is to go ahead with its purchase of a 24 per cent stake in HB Antwerp.
That's according to documents providing details of finance minister Peggy Serame's national 2024/25 budget, presented on Monday (5 February).
It will reportedly pay $65m for shares in the company. Okavango, the the state-owned diamond company, will supply HB with rough diamonds for the next five years.
The deal was first announced last March by the country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who heralded the move as "the dawn of a new era for the diamond industry in Botswana."
But it has been on hold since last October, when Canadian miner Lucara suddenly pulled out of a 10-year sales agreement with HB, accusing the company of accusing the company of "a material breach of financial commitments".
The move came less than a month after HB removed Oded Mansori, one of its three co-founders, citing "a sharp difference in strategic vision and approaches to business". He was subsequently reinstated.
Pic shows a student at HB's Innovation Academy, in Palapye, Botswana.