In what has morphed into a long drawn out saga, Botswana’s proposed acquisition of a 24 percent stake in HB Antwerp has not moved an inch from where the last government left matters. BONGANI MALUNGA reports
The protracted deal between the Botswana Government and Belgian diamond company HB Antwerp has not progressed any, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, has said.
Botswana was poised to acquire a 24 percent stake in HB Antwerp after the two parties agreed a deal in principle in 2023.
The government had set aside P890 million to purchase shares in the Belgian company, but despite the two parties having come to a verbal agreement, the deal was not signed.
Distress in the diamond market
Under the deal agreed in principle, Botswana’s state-owned diamond trading company, Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), was to supply rough diamonds to HB’s Botswana arm for five years.
In August last year, the government considered renegotiating the deal to double its shareholding at no extra cost due to the distress in the diamond market.
Then Minister of Minerals and Energy, Lefoko Moagi, told Parliament: “We will not be injecting more capital but we will get more shares for the same amount proposed in 2023.”
No new development
Asked to provide an update on the Botswana-HB Antwerp deal, Kenewendo told global mining publication JCK Online recently that there has not been any new development under the new government.
“We do not have any contracts or agreement with HB,” she stated briefly at the Jewellers Vigilance Committee’s annual luncheon in New York, USA.
Pressed further, Kenewendo stated that she does not anticipate any progress on the matter as things stand. “I don’t expect to have one,” she said. “There are no ongoing negotiations.”
Due diligence
Significantly, the Ministry of Minerals and Energy made no mention of plans to revisit the HB Antwerp deal in its Committee of Supply (budget proposal) speech for the 2025/2026 financial year presented last Friday.
Due diligence
President Duma Boko told a press conference last month that the HB Antwerp deal had not progressed because it was still at the due diligence stage under the previous government.
“What HB was proposing was expertise in diamond cutting, polishing and marketing, which was touted to have the potential to bring more value and revenue,” he said. “The government was in talks with them and conducting due diligence.”