Anglo American Mulls Third Cut to De Beers Value

Anglo American, De Beers’ parent company, is considering reducing the miner’s book value for the third time in two years amid weak diamond demand.

“The group is undertaking an impairment review of De Beers’ carrying value, assessing the impact of diamond conditions, which could potentially lead to an impairment at the full-year results,” the company said Thursday.

If implemented, the move would come just one year after Anglo slashed De Beers’s value by $2.88 billion, and put its carrying value, or the amount recoverable should the business be sold, at $4.1 billion. At the end of 2023, Anglo wrote down the miner’s value by $1.56 billion.

Anglo American will reveal the size of the impairment De Beers faces when it releases its financial results on February 20.

Anglo has also revised the miner’s production guidance for 2026, to “align output with prevailing demand,” it explained. Production is now expected to reach between 21 million and 26 million carats, compared with the previous forecast of 26 million to 29 million carats.

Meanwhile, De Beers’ rough-price index, which reflects like-for-like values, dropped 12% in 2025, it noted. However, that figure does not reflect stock rebalancing, or special deals involving large volume transactions in which De Beers makes lower margins. Including stock rebalancing, the rough-price index decreased 25%, the company said. The stock rebalancing also drove a 7% dip in the average price to $142 per carat for the full year.

Consolidated rough-diamond sales grew 9% to $2.98 billion for the 12 months, while total sales volume gained 23% to 23.9 million carats. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for 2025 is expected to be negative, the parent company projected.

Output for the full year fell 12% to 21.7 million carats amid planned maintenance shutdowns and cost-management initiatives.

Consolidated rough-diamond sales increased 5% to $571 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, with sales volume up 28% to 5.9 million carats. Production dropped 35% year on year to 3.8 million carats. Output from Botswana plunged 56% to 1.9 million carats amid shutdowns at the Jwaneng and Orapa deposits, and in Namibia supply fell 21% to 459,000 carats. In South Africa, production slid 10% to 496,000 carats, but it more than doubled in Canada to 949,000 carats as the miner accessed new ore from the Gahcho Kué site.

Anglo American is still in the process of trying to divest De Beers. It noted that a “structured sale process is currently underway,” and that it was “progressing the separation of De Beers.”

Image: A De Beers sight box. (De Beers)