Botswana nears a deal to raise its De Beers stake to 25%
Bloomberg reported on 13 October that the state and the Global Diamond Consortium are close to agreeing ownership shares, lifting Botswana from 15%. A year ago its president wanted a majority.
By Carat Capital
What changed
The host state's share is being settled. Botswana is nearing an agreement to raise its De Beers holding from 15% to about 25%, Bloomberg reported on 13 October. The report calls it one of the last major hurdles to the sale.
What it means
- If you hold a Botswana supply contract: The state would own a quarter of its own supplier while remaining its largest source of rough. The ten-year agreement signed in 2025 is unaffected by this report.
- If you are pricing the consortium's cost: A larger state stake is capital the private bidders no longer have to raise, and a pre-emption right the consortium no longer has to fear.
- What this is not: A signed deal. The report states the agreement is not finalised and gives no price, no date and no closing condition.
Key figures
| Botswana's stake under negotiationabout, and not finalised | 25% |
|---|---|
| The stake todaythe state's existing holding | 15% |
| The increase being negotiated25 less 15, on our subtraction | 10 points |
| Producing states combineda bound the report gives, not a figure | Under 50% |
Source: JCK Online's report of 14 October 2026 on Bloomberg's 13 October story, read from raw bytes, 200, 107,340 bytes. The stake is reported as nearing agreement, not agreed. The ten-point rise and the multiple are Carat Capital's arithmetic on the two published percentages.
Ten points, not a majority
About a quarter. Sources told Bloomberg that Botswana's stake likely would rise to around 25% from 15%, though the deal has not been finalised.
Both sides are named. Bloomberg reported on 13 October that Botswana and the Global Diamond Consortium are close to agreement on their future ownership shares.
Penny leads the buyer. The consortium is led by former De Beers chief executive Gareth Penny and also includes interests from Namibia and Angola, per the report.
| Stage | Botswana's stated position | Source of the figure |
|---|---|---|
| Late 2025 | Wanted a majority; said Botswana should be the 'real owners' | JCK, citing its own earlier reporting |
| July 2026 | Held 15% with a right of first refusal and 'complete freedom' | Carat Capital, 20 July 2026 |
| October 2026 | Nearing agreement at about 25% | Bloomberg, 13 October 2026 |
| Producing states together | Less than half of De Beers | JCK, as a bound |
| Control after the deal | Private hands | JCK |
Notes on this table
The arithmetic is small and worth printing. 25 - 15 = 10, so the negotiation is over ten percentage points, and 25 / 15 = 1.67, so the state would hold about two-thirds more of De Beers than it does now. Neither figure appears in the source; both are this paper's division on the two percentages the source gives. The move is also a retreat from the position the report attributes to Botswana in late 2025, when the country wanted a majority: 25% is a quarter, and a quarter is not control, which is why the report frames it as clearing a hurdle rather than creating one.
A long way from 'real owners'
The earlier demand. In late 2025 Botswana wanted a majority stake. It argued the country should be the 'real owners' of a company drawing most of its diamonds from there.
A headquarters move. The report recalls that President Boko suggested De Beers' head office could move from London to Botswana. Nothing in the current report repeats that.
Control stays private. Botswana, Namibia and Angola would together hold less than half of De Beers, leaving control of the company in private hands.
What to watch
- At signingWhether the 25% holds. The figure is reported as about a quarter and as not finalised.
- Q4 2026Whether Namibia's and Angola's stakes are published. Both are called significant and neither is sized.
- OngoingWhether the headquarters question returns. It was raised in 2025 and is absent from this report.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
The deal failing, or the number landing elsewhere. The stake is reported as about 25% and explicitly not final; a settlement at 20% or at 30% would leave this article's central figure wrong, and a collapse of the consortium's bid would make the whole negotiation moot. The source is a single Bloomberg report carried by JCK, with no on-the-record comment from Botswana, Anglo American or the consortium.
Why a 15% holding has mattered more than its size
Botswana's stake in De Beers is small but it has never behaved like a small stake, and the reason is the instrument attached to it rather than the percentage itself. The state's 15% carries a right of first refusal, which Botswana's minister for state president, defence and security confirmed to lawmakers in July 2026 and which this paper reported at the time. A right of first refusal lets the holder match any offer for the asset rather than merely vote against it, which means no buyer of Anglo American's 85% can be certain of its purchase until Gaborone has declined to pre-empt. That is why the report calls the stake negotiation one of the last major hurdles rather than one more term sheet. Raising the holding to about a quarter changes the arithmetic in two directions at once. It converts a blocking instrument into a larger ownership position, which is what Botswana has said it wants since 2025. It also converts state capital into part of the purchase price, which reduces what the private members of the consortium must raise. The second effect is why a bidder would agree to it. The first is why a government that once asked for a majority might accept a quarter.
Method
The item was fetched in this run with a browser identity and saved as raw bytes: www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/botswana-nears-deal-de-beers-stake/, 200, 107,340 bytes,. Every figure printed here was grepped against that saved copy before being written: '15%' 3 hits, '25%' 13 hits, 'Oct. 13' 2 hits, 'real owners' 1 hit, 'less than 50%' 1 hit, 'London to Botswana' 1 hit. Rapaport News carries the same story on its feed, 200, 44,609 bytes, dated Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:52:39 +0000 as 'Botswana Nears Deal on Size of De Beers Stake'; it is cited as corroboration that the report exists, not for any figure. ARCHIVE, by entity and by period, hits opened and read: 'Botswana' returns 76 hits in Carat Capital's archive and the thirteen that also contain the word stake were listed and the four nearest in time opened and read. OURS 2026-07-20 (gaborone-answers-penny) covers the period in which Botswana set out its OPTIONS on a 15% holding - join, pre-empt alone, or bid with a third party - and contains '15%' twice and '25%' zero times. OURS 2026-09-19 and 2026-09-25 cover lab-grown competition and the Okavango community agreement, different subjects. THIS ITEM covers the period in which the SIZE of the stake is being settled, October 2026. SAME ENTITY, DIFFERENT REPORTING PERIOD AND DIFFERENT QUESTION - July asked what Botswana would do with 15%, October asks what percentage it will hold. ADVANCED, not a repeat, and the 15% shared between the two is the figure that confirms the right company and the right asset have been matched.