Table of Contents
Key Points
- Anglo American plans to spin off De Beers, aiming for completion by 2025, as part of its portfolio reshaping under CEO Duncan Wanblad.
- CEO Wanblad has streamlined operations, including asset sales and a $4.9 billion exit from coal, focusing on high-growth commodities like copper.
- Botswana expresses interest in increasing its 15% stake in De Beers, signaling potential changes in the diamond industry’s power dynamics.
Anglo American Plc, led by South African executive Duncan Wanblad, is moving forward with plans to spin off its De Beers diamond business. The decision comes more than 12 years after Anglo took full control of the storied miner from South Africa’s billionaire Oppenheimer family.
Speaking at the Indaba mining conference in Cape Town, Wanblad said the separation is expected to be “substantively complete” by the end of 2025. The move is part of a broader effort to reshape Anglo American’s portfolio and focus on high-growth commodities.
Anglo CEO drives asset sales, coal exit
Since becoming CEO in 2022, Wanblad has pushed to streamline operations and sharpen the company’s strategy. His restructuring efforts have included the $195 million sale of two royalty stream assets, the $527 million divestment of shares in Anglo American Platinum, and the disposal of its steelmaking coal business for up to $4.9 billion.
The coal exit, which included a $1.1 billion deal for Anglo’s stake in the Jellinbah mine and a $3.775 billion sale of remaining assets to Peabody Energy, underscores the company’s shift toward metals critical for the global energy transition, such as copper, premium iron ore, and crop nutrients.
Botswana, which holds a 15 percent stake in De Beers, has signaled interest in increasing its shareholding. “They certainly indicated a desire to increase their stake and they have also said they would do so on commercial terms,” Wanblad said, though he declined to specify the size of a potential deal. Botswana’s government plays a key role in the diamond supply chain through its agreement with De Beers, and a larger stake would strengthen its influence in the industry.
De Beers faces new era without Anglo
Anglo American’s decision to separate De Beers comes at a challenging time for the diamond market, which has struggled with weaker consumer demand and competition from lab-grown alternatives. Under the Oppenheimer family, De Beers was known fort its global diamond dominance, but the landscape has shifted since Anglo acquired the family’s 40 percent stake for $5.2 billion in 2012.
The restructuring comes as Anglo American fends off takeover interest. In 2024, it rejected a $49 billion hostile bid from the world’s largest miner, which was targeting its valuable copper assets. Wanblad believes that spinning off De Beers and other non-core assets could make Anglo an even more attractive target for companies looking to gain exposure to Latin America’s copper reserves. The metal is essential for renewable energy and the rising demand from AI-driven data centers.
“Consolidating the industry, per se, whilst it looks fantastic from a corporate financing point of view, isn’t a good thing for the population of the world because less gets done,” Wanblad said at the Indaba conference. “But my job is to drive the best value for shareholders from this company, and that’s what I’m doing. So if this company is fully valued and somebody makes a high premium offer for it, fantastic,” he added, making it clear that maximizing shareholder returns remains his top priority.
