Anglo American is considering a sale of De Beers according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoting “people familiar with the matter.”
The diamond group has under-performed recently as the global diamond market has not recovered in terms of sales volumes and prices as expected.
De Beers announced on Tuesday that it would cut its production forecast for 2024 by 10% to between 26m carats and 29m carats with Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad commenting that, “on-going uncertainty around economic growth prospects has led to a continued cautious purchasing approach by sight holders and the recovery in rough diamond demand is expected to be gradual through the rest of the year.”
In February this year Wanblad revealed that a “systematic” review of the group’s asset portfolio was underway in which “nothing is off the table.”
According to the WSJ article, Anglo “has had conversations in recent weeks with potential buyers including luxury houses, and Gulf sovereign wealth funds. Anglo has signalled to potential suitors that it is open to offers.”
The WSJ added that, “the discussions are at an early stage, some of the people said, and a valuation has not been discussed. An eventual buyer might be a combination of a luxury house and a financial investor, one of the people said. The names of potential bidders could not be learned.”