Botswana and Angola in Race for De Beers

(IDEX Online) - Botswana aims to secure a majority stake in De Beers, and to do so by the end of October, according to the country's president, Duma Boko.

In a separate, but related development, Angola says it has formally submitted a bid to buy a minority stake in the loss-making diamond miner, which is expected to sell for $3bn to $4bn.

Things are hotting up ahead of an informal end-of-the-year deadline for Anglo American to part company with De Beers.

Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said in February that he wanted the divestment of its 85 per cent stake in De Beers to be "substantively complete" by the end of 2025.

Botswana, which has been badly hit by the diamond slump, is in talks with Oman's sovereign wealth fund and other partners, to finance the deal and increase its stake from the 15 per cent it currently holds.

"We are more than ready for the transaction and we've said the transaction must be concluded by the end of October," Boko told Bloomberg News. "It's a matter of economic sovereignty for Botswana."

Meanwhile Angola's state-owned diamond company Endiama is also seeking a slice of the pie, as part of a "pan-African ownership model".

"Our bid is designed to foster a partnership in which Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola all participate meaningfully — ensuring that no single party dominates and that the company can grow as a truly international commercial entity," minister of mineral resources Diamantino Azevedo said in a statement.

Pic shows De Beers' Venetia mine, South Africa.