Word that the world's biggest diamond miner has a buyer in waiting did not come from Anglo American, which owns De Beers and is trying to sell it. It came from a cabinet minister in Gaborone. Moeti Mohwasa, Botswana's minister for the state president and defence, told lawmakers on Friday that Anglo had run a competitive sale process among three shortlisted parties and settled on a group called the Global Diamond Consortium. Anglo's own line has not moved: it is progressing the sale with a number of bidders and will provide updates at the appropriate time. Namibia's mines minister Modestus Amutse went further on Sunday, calling the circulating reports misleading and incorrect.
The man who idled the mines last time
Bloomberg, citing people it did not name, says the consortium is led by Gareth Penny. Mohwasa named no members. Penny ran De Beers for five years until he left in 2010, when the Oppenheimer family still controlled it, and steered it through the financial crisis that slashed diamond prices by idling mines and repairing the balance sheet with a $1 billion rights offer. He has chaired Ninety One, South Africa's largest private asset manager, since 2019. His bid, backed by some of the world's biggest diamond traders, centres on refocusing the company on mining and marketing natural stones. A spokesman for Penny declined to comment.
Botswana holds the card that matters
Botswana owns 15% of De Beers and half of Debswana, the joint venture that digs most of the country's stones. It also has the right to buy Anglo's entire interest before anyone else does, and it is running financial and legal due diligence on exactly that. Lazard and CBH Bank are advising on the money, Desai Law Group and Clifford Chance on the law. Government retains complete freedom to proceed either alongside the preferred bidder as a partner or to exercise its preemption rights alone or with a third party, Mohwasa said. The consortium's proposal envisages participation by Angola and Namibia, and President Duma Boko makes the final call, with the process expected to close by end-September.
The trouble is arithmetic. Diamonds supply about a third of Botswana's budget revenue, and the downturn has tipped the country into a two-year recession while pushing debt near its 40% of GDP ceiling. Boko said last year he wanted majority control; that now appears unlikely. James Campbell of Botswana Minerals notes the president has always wanted a bigger stake but is finding it difficult to raise funds, and that Botswana has publicly said it wants to diversify away from diamonds. Wholesale prices have fallen below $100 a carat, a 93% decline since 2020.
Whoever signs inherits the same problem Penny would recognise from 2009: a mine can be idled, but desire has to be rebuilt.
