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Cartier owner Richemont and US retailer Signet Jewelers are in talks to join a consortium bidding for De Beers, the diamond miner Anglo American (LON: AAL) values at about $1 billion.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg and Reuters that the two companies are discussing joining Global Diamond Consortium, a group led by former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny. The talks are advanced, but there is no guarantee either company will join, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Their participation would give both the Swiss luxury group and jewellery retailer a foothold in a key part of the diamond supply chain.
Industry participants may also see their interest as a vote of confidence in natural diamonds, a market recovering from a severe downturn caused in part by weaker Chinese demand and competition from lab-grown stones.
Consortium talks
Global Diamond Consortium emerged in July as the preferred bidder for De Beers. It is also in talks with Botswana about increasing the government’s ownership to around 25%. Botswana already holds a 15% stake and produces about 70% of De Beers’ diamonds.
The group includes Namibia and Angola, two major diamond-producing countries, as well as large diamond manufacturers. The size of any potential stakes for Richemont and Signet has not been disclosed. With several governments and private investors involved, their holdings could be relatively small.
Richemont, controlled by South African billionaire Johann Rupert, owns brands including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Vacheron Constantin. Its jewellery division accounts for about three-quarters of its business. Signet, one of the largest jewellery retailers, owns Zales, Jared and Kay.
A direct investment would follow other jewellery companies’ moves into diamond mining. British brand Graff, for example, holds a 14.9% stake in Gem Diamonds (LON: GEM), the owner of Lesotho’s Letseng mine.
Richemont was not immediately available for comment. Anglo declined to comment. RBC analysts said in a note that Richemont’s possible participation would be strategically meaningful, but would be more about positioning in the natural-diamond market than a financial event.
Botswana’s decision
Any sale still depends on Botswana, which has a right of first refusal but has not said whether it will exercise that option. A spokesperson for the presidency said on Tuesday that the government would not comment until a transaction had been concluded and signed. Officials said this summer that a deal was likely to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Anglo has sought to sell De Beers since fending off an almost $50-billion approach from BHP (ASX: BHP) in early 2024. The process has been complicated by the diamond-market downturn. Anglo has taken three impairments on the business in three years, lowering its carrying value to $2.3 billion in February.
Independent diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky told MINING.COM that the rights buyers would view De Beers as a long-term value investment.
“You could make the argument that De Beers is a deep value investment right now,” he said earlier this year. “It has a long, resilient history, and I think with enough capital and proper execution it could flourish again. With so many independent diamond miners falling off in recent years, in addition to Russian sanctions, De Beers is in a very strong position from a supply standpoint.”