By Mbongeni Mguni, Antony Sguazzin, Thomas Biesheuvel and William Clowes.
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Anglo American Plc has selected a group led by De Beers’ former boss Gareth Penny as the preferred bidder for its sale of the world’s biggest diamond mining company, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Anglo chose a group known as Global Diamond Consortium from three bidders, Botswana’s minister for the state president and defense Moeti Mohwasa told lawmakers on Friday. That group is led by Penny, two of the people said asking not to be identified because the details aren’t public. A spokesman for Penny declined to comment.
Botswana owns 15% of De Beers and half of a local joint venture with De Beers that produces most of the country’s diamonds. GDC’s proposal “envisages participation” by fellow diamond-producing nations Angola and Namibia, according to Mohwasa.
“As it is entitled to do, the government has been engaging with Anglo American to evaluate all bids received, including that of the preferred bidder,” Mohwasa said. “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.”
Anglo is trying to sell De Beers at a time when the diamond industry experiences one of the deepest and longest downturns in its history due to the rise in popularity of synthetic stones and a decline in Chinese luxury spending. Since diamonds were discovered there in 1967, Botswana has become one of Africa’s wealthiest African nations on a per-capita basis.
“The transaction is a genuine opportunity to reset and strengthen Botswana’s position in an industry that has underpinned the nation’s development of half a century,” Mohwasa said.
Botswana is not part of Penny’s consortium but is in talks with it, one of the people said.
“We are progressing the competitive sale process with a number of bidders and will provide updates at the appropriate time,” a spokesperson for Anglo said in response to questions.
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