Botswana looks to Swiss Bank to help negotiate De Beers sale

Bank known for serving ultra-wealthy clients who value privacy Botswana has enlisted a top Swiss private bank to help it wrest majority control of De Beers from Anglo American, setting the stage for one of the country’s most ambitious and risky corporate plays in decades. Anglo American is under pressure to complete its exit from De Beers this year as part of a restructuring plan announced after it rejected a £39 billion takeover bid from global miner BHP last year. As part of the process, Botswana has turned to Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique SA, a Swiss bank known for serving ultra-wealthy clients who value privacy. The bank specialises in private banking and asset management for extremely wealthy international clients. Sources close to the sale say the Swiss bank has engaged a high-value British financial adviser to represent Botswana’s interests. Botswana currently holds a 15 percent stake in De Beers, worth $615 million, and is seeking to increase its share during the sale by Anglo American, the diamond producer’s owner. Sources familiar with the matter say Botswana is looking to raise its stake to as much as 85 percent in the world’s largest diamond marketing company. “Yes, I can confirm that the government of Botswana wants to increase its stake to 85, even 100 percent in De Beers. They have hired a company,” a source without authorization to speak publicly on the deal said. According to Anglo American, recent write-downs have significantly lowered De Beers’ book value. In 2024, a $1.6 billion write-down reduced its valuation to about $7.6 billion, according to JCK Diamond World. In early 2025, an additional write-down of about $2.9 billion brought the value down to around $4.1 billion, the Financial Times reported in February. Mining Minister Bogolo Kenewendo told the Financial Times recently that President Duma Boko “remains resolute in his quest to increase Botswana’s stake in De Beers to ensure Botswana’s full control over this strategic national asset and the entire value chain, including marketing.” Boko said last week that De Beers, which sources the majority of its diamonds from Botswana, was not selling enough. “Maybe we should take over and sell them ourselves,” he said, further complicating what is already a challenging process for London-listed Anglo. His comments came ahead of an early August deadline for bids from potential buyers. The Botswana government has previously complained publicly about Anglo American’s handling of the sale, saying it has not been properly consulted, according to Mining Weekly , citing people with knowledge of the matter. Botswana holds preemptive rights on any deal and must be involved in the sale process. Kenewendo told the Financial Times that any sale of the company “without our support will be difficult to achieve.” “Our partners at Anglo American have, regrettably, failed to manage the process transparently or in coordination with the government and with our support,” she said. However, mining experts and critics have questioned Botswana’s decision to seek a larger stake, arguing it would expose the country to greater financial risk. “Especially at a time like this, we don’t need to hold a majority stake. We can’t raise capital when De Beers needs a capital injection for marketing,” a source said. Another source said acquiring a controlling stake in De Beers would mean Botswana must bear the burden of bailing out entities like the Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) during periods of underperformance. “You will need diamond revenue to bail out a diamond company,” another source said, referring to ODC, the government’s diamond sales arm. The source added that Anglo American previously injected billions of pula into capital projects such as Cut 8 and Cut 9 and questioned whether Botswana’s economy could manage such financial responsibilities on its own.

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Botswana looks to Swiss Bank to help negotiate De Beers sale

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