Wanblad's 2025 Target for De Beers' Spin-Off
February 05, 25
(IDEX Online) - Anglo American's divestment of De Beers will be "substantively complete" by the end of this year, according to Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad.
He also said the 136-year-old diamond miner would be "fully set up as a standalone business", to ensure it didn't have a negative impact on Anglo's operations.
Wanblad (pictured), speaking on Monday (3 February) at the 2025 Indaba Mining Conference, in Cape Town, South Africa, said the Botswana government was keen to increase its 15 per cent stake in De Beers.
Botswana and De Beers announced earlier this week that they had finally reached a long-term agreement on sales of rough diamonds from Debswana, their joint venture.
Wanblad also said Anglo was maximizing its value ahead of any future bid to buy it. Mining rival BHP tried and failed to acquire Anglo with a hostile $49bn last year.
Anglo responded with a plan to divest its less profitable assets, including coal, platinum and diamonds, and focus its energies on copper in particular.