Portion taken from recent Investment News
Revealed information re: De Beers has never made public before, including “where its best diamonds come from and how much they fetch per carat,” as per Bloomberg. .......... (For those wondering, in 2013, De Beers recovered 22.1 million carats from Botswana — significantly more than it brought in from Canada, Namibia and South Africa — with that country also achieving the highest diamond grade). .......... That — and other — data hasn’t been released before largely due to the fact that De Beers used to be a private company owned by the Oppenheimer family. However, the family sold its remaining 40-percent stake to Anglo American a couple of years ago, and now Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani is hoping that a move towards transparency will attract more investors. .......... According to Jeremy Wrathall, head of global natural resources at Investec, the move is a good one. He told Bloomberg, “hareholders’ best interests are served by transparency, disclosure and openness,” adding, “[t]hey can’t pull the shutters down and say ‘no.’” Meanwhile, Anish Aggarwal, a partner at Antwerp-based industry consulting firm Gemdax, told the news outlet that last week’s presentation coupled with the release of an industry report in September “help make De Beers more attractive as an asset.” .......... That said, Anglo isn’t being entirely selfish with its plan to bring in investors. Bloomberg points out that diamond prices have increased around 75 percent over the last five years, and Anglo sees further brightness ahead for the gems — as mentioned, the company predicts that diamond demand will hit $31 billion in 2018. .......... It’s thus possible that investors could stand to benefit from taking a stake in De Beers via Anglo American. Certainly an opportunity for diamond enthusiasts to consider moving forward. .......... Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.