By Nelson Banya
LUANDA (Reuters) -Angola will not fund state-owned miner Endiama’s proposed acquisition of a stake in De Beers through the national budget, Finance Minister Vera Daves de Sousa said on Friday.
Endiama has bid for a majority stake in Anglo American unit De Beers, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on October 24.
The southwest African country had initially indicated interest in a minority stake in De Beers, which has been put up for sale as Anglo restructures its asset to focus mainly on clean energy metal copper.
Asked how Angola plans to fund the proposed acquisition during a press briefing on the 2026 national budget, de Sousa said there was no provision for the share purchase in the spending plan for next year.
“So, let us assume that the entity (Endiama) has the courage to take this decision, because the funding will not come out of the national budget. That is all I can say,” she said.
Anglo values De Beers at $4.9 billion after recording $3.5 billion in impairments over the past two years.
Angola’s ambitions for De Beers could potentially trigger a standoff with neighbouring Botswana, which is also seeking control of the diamond producer.
Botswana – which currently owns 15% of De Beers and contributes 70% of its annual rough diamond production – considers the company a strategic national asset, despite a recent slump in prices that has badly hurt its economy.
(Reporting by Miguel Gomes and Nelson Banya;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Franklin Paul and Rosalba O’Brien)
