Botswana Aims to Increase Stake in De Beers
June 10, 24
(IDEX Online) - Botswana's government hopes to increase on its 15 per cent stake in De Beers.
It has greeted the proposed sell-off of the 136-year-old diamond miner by Anglo American as "the best thing".
Earlier this week the country's president Mokgweetsi Masisi (pictured) told a political rally: "We are going to increase the shares that we have in De Beers."
Last month he told a US business audience that the value of De Beers was fundamentally created by Botswana. "Without Botswana De Beers doesn't exist," he said.
Anglo announced last month that it would ditch the loss-making company to focus on more profitable commodities, following a takeover bid (since failed) by Australian mining giant BHP.
Anglo owns 85 per cent of De Beers. The Botswana government renegotiated its deal with De Beers last year, so that the share of diamonds from its joint venture with De Beers will double from 25 per cent to 50 per cent over the next 10 years.