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De Beers Sale in ‘Final, Most Challenging’ Phase, Anglo CEO Says
The goal is for the De Beers sale to be finished by the second half of 2026, with the subsequent approvals process expected to take a year.
De Beers Group’s sales fell 20 percent in the first half of the year but losses shrank due to cost-cutting measures. Anglo American is in the process of selling the diamond miner and marketer and hopes to have the process completed by the end of the year.
London—Anglo American released its first-half results Thursday, which included an update on the timeline for the sale of De Beers Group.
On the company’s earnings call, Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said the team has been working “incredibly hard in a terribly complex environment” over the last few years to sell De Beers and that the sale is “advancing.”
He said: “We are now in the final phases of our process. That also is the most challenging phase of our process, given the number of parties that we need to take along to the final point and get signing of the final agreements.
“Our focus remains on bringing this process to a conclusion … during the second half of this year.”
Wanblad seemingly shot down reports that Anglo American had identified a front-runner in the sale process, the consortium led by former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny, telling reporters the company is “not exclusive” with any consortium and there is still more than one bidder in consideration, MiningMx reported.
During the earnings call, Wanblad also confirmed to an analyst that the company is pursuing a private sale for De Beers, not a public market listing or IPO.
“We don’t think that the market has capacity for a listing of De Beers at this particular point in time. We probably got there a good few months ago, to be honest with you,” he said.
“That was also helpfully supported by the fact that we had some real traction in the divestment process with a number of parties that were all deeply strategic type of partners. We drew some confidence from that.”
When asked by an analyst about any “regulatory hoopla” surrounding the sale, Wanblad said the United States, China, and Europe are likely to be involved, and the statutory approvals process is expected to take about a year once the sale is final.
“We’ll confirm that when we do the transaction,” he said.
Related stories will be right here …
On the company’s earnings call, Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said the team has been working “incredibly hard in a terribly complex environment” over the last few years to sell De Beers and that the sale is “advancing.”
He said: “We are now in the final phases of our process. That also is the most challenging phase of our process, given the number of parties that we need to take along to the final point and get signing of the final agreements.
“Our focus remains on bringing this process to a conclusion … during the second half of this year.”
Wanblad seemingly shot down reports that Anglo American had identified a front-runner in the sale process, the consortium led by former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny, telling reporters the company is “not exclusive” with any consortium and there is still more than one bidder in consideration, MiningMx reported.
During the earnings call, Wanblad also confirmed to an analyst that the company is pursuing a private sale for De Beers, not a public market listing or IPO.
“We don’t think that the market has capacity for a listing of De Beers at this particular point in time. We probably got there a good few months ago, to be honest with you,” he said.
“That was also helpfully supported by the fact that we had some real traction in the divestment process with a number of parties that were all deeply strategic type of partners. We drew some confidence from that.”
When asked by an analyst about any “regulatory hoopla” surrounding the sale, Wanblad said the United States, China, and Europe are likely to be involved, and the statutory approvals process is expected to take about a year once the sale is final.
“We’ll confirm that when we do the transaction,” he said.
De Beers reported Thursday that rough diamond trading conditions remain challenging, stating, “Consumer confidence and logistics continued to be impacted by geopolitical and macroeconomic instability, compounded by the conflict in the Middle East.
“While demand for larger, higher-quality natural diamonds remained resilient, smaller and lower-quality diamonds continued to face pricing pressure from the impact of synthetic lab-grown diamonds.”
Total revenue reached $1.6 billion in the first half of the year, down 19 percent when compared with $2.0 billion in the same period last year.
The consolidated average realized price fell to $105 per carat, down 32 percent from $155 per carat in H1 2025, due to a higher proportion of lower-value goods in the sales mix and a 16 percent decline in the average rough diamond price index.
In the first half of 2026, De Beers recorded an underlying EBITDA loss of $113 million, down from $189 million in the same period last year. The company was hurt by falling rough diamond prices, but cost-cutting measures helped to stem losses.
De Beers introduced additional cost-cutting measures earlier this month, announcing it would be shutting down the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years and plans to lay off or reassign a “significant” number of employees, mostly at its headquarters in London.
First-half production increased by 46 percent from 10.2 million to 14.9 million carats, as the Orapa mine was back to capacity after undergoing extended maintenance last year. A planned ore release at the Gahcho Kué mine in Canada also helped to boost first-half production.
De Beers noted that production is expected to decline in the second half of the year due to downtime at Orapa and Jwaneng, with the plants at both mines scheduled to undergo maintenance.
Production guidance for 2026 remains unchanged at 21–26 million carats.
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