De Beers diamonds at a crossroads

Plans to float De Beers are overshadowed by waning demand for natural diamonds and their increasingly popular lab-grown counterparts.

A De Beers spokesperson said that the company was currently studying a potential stock market listing and selling the diamond business.

“Both options are very much on the table,” he told the Mail on Sunday.

City insider Raj Ray, quoted in the UK media, said this was a challenging time for natural diamonds.  Demand from China was in decline, the savings of potential customers in the US had been eroded by inflation, while lab-grown diamonds had undercut prices.

In May 2024, when Anglo American was fighting a hostile takeover bid by its Australian rival BHP, the company announced that it intended to concentrate on its copper and iron ore interests. Meanwhile, it would either de-merge or divest De Beers.

Founded in 1888, De Beers is the world’s leading diamond miner and is owned by the London-based Anglo American mining company although the Botswana government also holds a 15 per cent stake.

Should the estimated £4 billion (€4.7 billion) float go ahead, De Beers would be taking the same route as rival Lucara, which now lists in Botswana, Canada and Sweden.