De Beers Still Has ‘More Than One’ Bidder, Anglo Says

Anglo American is not in exclusive talks with any individual bidder for De Beers, the parent company’s CEO said Thursday in interviews with business media.

Duncan Wanblad’s comments follow reports that the mining conglomerate is discussing a $1 billion sale of its 85% stake in the diamond company to a consortium led by former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny.

“We are not exclusive with any particular consortium ‌at ⁠this particular point in time,” Wanblad told reporters, according to Reuters. “And there is more than one in the process.”

The executive made similar comments in a video interview with Bloomberg.

The “long” process of selling De Beers has been “characterized by many, many complications, particularly those associated with the state of the diamond markets over the last few years,” Wanblad added in the Bloomberg interview.

“Despite all of that, we have really made great progress, and we are now pretty close to the end of that. Having said that, this is exactly the time of the process where things are very delicate. A number of parties have to all get together, have to all agree and all sign on the dotted line,” he said.

However, it’s “looking good for getting it done ideally somewhere between now and the end of this year,” he added.

Anglo American is no longer considering offering De Beers on the capital markets, Wanblad confirmed in a call with analysts on Thursday following its first-half earnings release.

“We don’t think that the market has capacity for a listing of De Beers at this particular point in time,” he stated. “We probably got there a good few months ago. 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[s] of partners.”

He declined to comment on the reported deal value.

Image: A haul truck transporting kimberlite at De Beers’ Venetia mine in South Africa. (Ben Perry/Armoury Films/De Beers)