Botswana Hopes to Increase De Beers Stake
February 10, 25
(IDEX Online) - Botswana's mines minister Bogolo Kenewendo says it's "absolutely" the right time to discuss the government increasing its 15 per cent stake in De Beers.
She was speaking to the UK's Financial Times after both sides reached agreement on a long-overdue agreement on rough sales and mining rights.
She indicated that Anglo American, which owns the other 85 per cent of De Beers, was moving closer to an initial public offering (IPO) and that Botswana was pushing for a larger stake.
Anglo, which fought off a hostile $49m bid last year from BHP, is seeking to divest De Beers, its loss-making diamond miner, as part of a wider plan to focus on copper and to spin off less profitable assets, such as platinum, nickel and steelmaking coal.
Anglo announced last week that it was likely to write down the value of De Beers from its current $7.6bn, as a result of persistent weak diamond demand, especially in China.
Botswana's diamond, which accounts for over 70 per cent of the country's export earnings, has been severely hit by the global slump in demand.
In the last nine months of 2024 Debswana - its 50/50 joint venture with De Beers it sold $1.53bn of rough, down 52 per cent on the same period in 2023.
Pic shows the Orapa diamond mine, Botswana.