*Angola moves to snatch De Beers from Botswana’s grip
The global tug-of-war for De Beers, the world’s most iconic diamond company has intensified, and now Botswana has a fight on its hands.
As the sale of the diamond giant continues to attract various interested parties, Angola, through its state-owned diamond company- Endiama, has formally submitted a bid to buy Anglo American’s majority stake in De Beers. This is a sharp shift from its earlier preference for a minority share and signals a full-blown battle for control of the diamond powerhouse.
Botswana on the other hand is also seeking to increase its stake to more than 50%, a move that President Duma Boko has emphasised is a priority. Botswana which currently accounts for about 75% of the rough diamond De Beers only holds a 15% stake in the company.
Endiama Chief Executive Officer José Manuel Ganga Júnior said the company had presented a concrete and well-defined proposal to Anglo American and was moving ahead with subsequent actions. The move intensifies the scramble for control of the world’s largest diamond producer, pitting Angola against Botswana. However, 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. According to Ganga Júnior, Endiama aims to leverage De Beers’ advanced mining technologies and global marketing systems. “These are factors that, if we are part of De Beers, will automatically allow us to take bigger leaps forward,” he said.
De Beers and Angola have strengthened ties since 2022, when they signed exploration agreements that 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 CEO 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’s 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.
Meanwhile, De Beers Q3 2025 production has increased by 38% to 7.7 million carats primarily driven by higher production from Jwaneng in Botswana. Output in Botswana increased by 51% to 6 million carats with Jwaneng contributing 3.1 million carats while Orapa mine produced 2.9 million carats.
