Angola challenges Botswana in high-stakes De Beers bid

[Ben Graham]

Angola’s state diamond company Endiama has submitted a formal bid for Anglo American’s (LON: AAL) majority stake in De Beers, in a sharp shift from its earlier position of seeking only a minority share.

Endiama chief executive officer, José Manuel Ganga Júnior, told Bloomberg News the company had presented “a concrete and well-defined proposal” to Anglo and was moving ahead with “subsequent actions.”

The move intensifies the scramble for control of the world’s largest diamond producer, pitting Angola against neighbouring Botswana, which already owns 15% of De Beers. Botswana holds the right to match any external offer and has framed its potential bid as a “matter of economic sovereignty.”

Angola recently overtook Botswana as Africa’s leading diamond producer by value, with 2024 output topping its neighbour’s for the first time in 20 years, according to the Kimberley Process, an international certification body.

Former De Beers CEOs circle diamond giant as sale nears

Ganga Júnior said Endiama aims to leverage De Beers’ advanced mining technologies and global marketing systems. “These are factors that, if we’re part of De Beers, will automatically allow us to take bigger leaps forward,” he said.

Growing partnership

De Beers and Angola have strengthened ties since 2022, when they signed exploration agreements later expanded to cover processing. That partnership led to the first major kimberlite discovery in Angola in more than three decades, announced in August.

De Beers chief executive Al Cook at the time called Angola “one of the best places on the planet to look for diamonds.”

Anglo American, which holds an 85% stake in De Beers, is selling the business as part of a restructuring launched 17 months ago. Former De Beers executives Gareth Penny and Bruce Cleaver are leading investor groups among several bidders.

Angola’s bid adds a geopolitical dimension to the contest, as diamond-rich nations in southern Africa push for greater control over their natural resources amid mounting competition from lab-grown diamonds. 

De Beers has also drawn interest from at least six other consortia, including billionaire Anil Agarwal, India’s KGK Group and Kapu Gems, and Qatari investment funds.