At this point, it is a public secret that while De Beers has rejected the BHP bid, it is nonetheless moving ahead with plans to restructure its business. If anything the BHP bid has just shone the spotlight on Anglo as somewhat of a laggard which needs to shape up by shedding off some of its assets including the diamonds.
Enter the government of Botswana. As Anglo makes that concerted and dare I say, commercial decision to dispose of De Beers, the government has not wasted time stating that they would like to move in the opposite direction and increase their stake in De Beers. We also understand that the government intends to keep out the ‘bad guys’ from taking over De Beers. It is unclear at this stage as to what or who in the government book, fits the description of a bad guy.
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