Anglo American has put De Beers up for sale, says Wall Street Journal report 

According to the WSJ article, Anglo has had conversations in recent weeks with potential buyers including luxury houses, and Gulf sovereign wealth funds 

London: British multinational mining company Anglo American is considering sale of De Beers, in which it has 85% stake, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoting “people familiar with the matter”. The government of Botswana holds the remaining 15% stake in De Beers. 

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 last week 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 under way. 

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.” 

Anglo American focuses on natural resources with six core businesses: Kumba Iron Ore, Iron Ore Brazil, coal (thermal and metallurgical), base metals (copper, nickel, niobium and phosphates), platinum, and diamonds, through De Beers, in which it owns 85% share. 

Meanwhile, Anglo American’s rival BHP Group Limited, an Australian multinational mining and metals public company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, is believed to have made a $38.8 billion takeover bid for Anglo American, a megadeal that could reshape the global mining industry.  

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