Focus: De Beers draws interest from billionaire Agarwal, Qatari funds, sources say
LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Diamond giant De Beers has drawn interest from at least six consortia, including billionaire Anil Agarwal, Indian diamond firms and Qatari investment funds, sources close to the companies told Reuters.
De Beers is being carved out of Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab as the London-listed miner refocuses on copper and iron ore but the move comes with global diamond prices under pressure.
Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources, which has mines in Zambia and South Africa, is among the interested parties, as part of a bigger group, two sources said.
Anglo and Agarwal both declined to comment.
Indian companies including KGK Group and Kapu Gems, which dominate the domestic cutting and polishing trade, and are De Beers's biggest customers, have also expressed an interest, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
KGK Group and Kapu Gems did not respond to requests for comment.
Anglo American, whose book value for De Beers stands at $4.9 billion, following $3.5 billion in impairments over the last two years, said it has retained financial advisers Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Centerview to help with a sale or a demerger and potential listing.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Business Matters Has a phone call led to the end of the tariff war?
The US and China have announced their delegations will meet in London to talk trade on Monday... so has a phone call between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jin Ping signalled an end to the tariff war between the World's biggest two economies? Andrew Peach discusses whether Elon Musk's time at the White House achieved anything for the tech sector that will survive his rift with President Trump. Elsewhere, we are on the road in China with a truck but no driver, and the fashion statement that's set to go up for auction in Paris. Global business news, with live guests and contributions from Asia and the USA.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Lockdown businesses thriving five years after Covid
Five years ago, the Covid-19 lockdown was still in force, with wide-ranging impacts that are still being felt some, thought, it was a chance to try something different and launch a have they fared and was the gamble worth it? 'It was really something to keep me busy' This weekend Leah Sigsworth will open a pop-up shop in London's Fitzrovia to mark five years since the birth of Ethereal 23, from Northamptonshire, started the company in her parents' back garden during lockdown."When I started, it was really something to keep me busy. It was for my own mental health; it was something to do during the loneliness of the Covid lockdown," she September 2020, she had begun a creative writing degree at the University of Lincoln, and carried on with the business, working with her boyfriend, Hugh Walker, also now 23. "Then, when I graduated, I sat down with Hugh, and my parents and said, 'Can we do this full-time?' and we did."Leah, who was was state educated at Sharnbrook Academy, Bedfordshire, says: "I fell in love with being a business owner. I liked the freedom. It's given us so much;it's actually insane thinking about it.""We only launched on Tiktok Shop in November last year, which went crazy, I now have about 227,000 followers. "We've been to TikTok headquarters a couple of times since. It's probably about 70% of our business, with the rest through website sales and Instagram, where I have 27,000 followers." The business now employs four people, including her mother Cara Sigsworth and occasionally her father Richard and sister Sophie, 20."We're also looking at some new external hires as well," says year she decided to travel the world with Hugh while working remotely. "We were also saving for our own home. We found a cottage for sale when we came back from travelling, put an offer in, it was accepted and five months later, in December, we moved in." As the online face of the brand, she frequently appears in social media posts but prides herself on always being herself."I don't always have a full face of makeup, and my hair sometimes looks absolutely hideous, and I'll make videos in my pyjamas," she says."I think sharing every day on social media is sometimes tough because you are sharing when all the bad things happen, so I've tried to be really open and honest."I'll say 'Look guys, I'm really struggling with anxiety this week', or if we've had a really rubbish week because of an email a customer has sent me."Mostly, though, life is good."I've started a brand, it's given me a lot of hope and it all happened by accident," she says. 'Entrepreneurship could be a very rewarding career path' Oksana Koryak, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, says the Covid pandemic created "a window of time for people to actually concentrate, and create the mindspace to think about something that might be a viable business idea".She says: "It was a catalyst for some entrepreneurial soul-searching."I think we all have it within us. It's not something that you're born with, it's a combination of the environment that you've been exposed to and opportunities that come your way."One thing for would-be entrepreneurs to remember, she says, is that younger people are very "TikTok-driven".She says: "It's creating a product that people might like and communicating what it is in the way that is relatable to that particular demographic; that is really important."I generally believe that entrepreneurship could be a very rewarding career path for many people."Even if we are in full employment, I think it's still important to be entrepreneurial, and to look out for opportunities on behalf of our employers, or even just as a side hustle." 'We've sold £1m worth of coffee and donuts' "It's been crazy," is how Aaron Shade, 34, from Bedford, describes the past five years. He and his fiancée Sarah Ball had successful careers in sales and to spend more time with their family, they started their own business within the travel industry. When Covid took hold, it was "wiped out", so they looked for a new challenge and started SAY Doughnuts in April 2020, from their now employs 18 people and has two shops, in Bedford and Hitchin, Hertfordshire"We started with just the two of us, selling to friends and family, and then it spread really quickly and organically, and we also sold wholesale goods to cafes and delis in surrounding towns like, Ampthill, Maulden, Woburn Sands, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Olney and Hitchin," says they outgrew the family kitchen in March 2021, they got the keys to a retail unit that they converted into a bakery. For a year they also had a shop in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, but it closed in late 2024. "We will expand again, but we have to be cautious. I would like to be in Cambridge," he says. "I'm still normal, I still live in my same house but we've sold over £1m worth of coffee and doughnuts.""It sounds like we should be flying, but that's not how business works."We've lost a lot in Berkhamsted and still have to live off this business with no salaries coming in from anywhere else."The business is "looking at the future", he says."We're a household name in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with 16,600 followers on Instagram. "It's insane. Not many businesses get this far. We've lent on friends and family to get us here."It's been a bit of a rollercoaster. " Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
UK mortgage guarantee scheme due to end with no news on replacement
A government scheme to encourage UK lenders to offer 95% mortgages is scheduled to end this month, with no word yet on when its replacement will be launched. The mortgage guarantee scheme went live in April 2021 to help buyers with small deposits get on the property ladder. It allows banks to buy a guarantee from the government on the slice of the mortgage between 80% and 95% of the property's value. If a borrower gets into financial difficulty and their property is repossessed, the government will cover that portion of the lender's losses. Not every lender offering 95% mortgages has used the scheme. However, between launch and the end of December 2024, more than 53,000 mortgages were completed using it, of which 86% were first-time-buyer purchases. The government said in February it would be launching 'a new, permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme' that would 'open the door to home ownership for more young families and hard-working renters'. But at the time of writing no detailed information had been announced. The existing scheme is open to new home loans only until 30 June. Ministers had said that by making the mortgage guarantee scheme permanent and comprehensive, 'banks and building societies will have long-term confidence to continue offering low-deposit mortgages'. Data issued last week showed the total value of the guarantees provided by the scheme was £1.6bn, while the overall value of the mortgages supported by it was £10.7bn. The mean value of a property bought or remortgaged via the scheme was £211,000.
