De Beers ‘secrets’ revealed for the first time

Part of has been the ‘well kept business secrets’ at De Beers for over 120 years, were shared with analysts and investors, by Anglo, the company that owns majority stake in De Beers, reports say. The move is to allow more transparency with investors, and in turn convince investors that shares of Anglo are probably the best route to ‘gain exposure to diamonds, a commodity which has gained about 75 percent in the past five years, surpassing the performance of other major products which Anglo mines.

In the 90-minute presentation, Anglo shared with investors De Beers’ information which has for the first time been made public including the source of its best diamonds, the price they command per carat, and more, reports add.

Anglo is a London-based miner with interest in mining copper, coal and iron ore, and had purchased the Oppenheimer family’s 40 percent stake in De Beers for $5.1 billion, in 2012. With this, Anglo raised its holding in De Beers to 85 percent, as the Oppenheimer family gave up its 80-year ownership. De Beers’ remaining stake is with southern African nation of Botswana founded by the British imperialist Cecil Rhodes.

According to Jeremy Wrathall, head of global natural resources at Investec, the approach of transparency, disclosure and openness is the best way to tap into the interests to shareholders, and he views ‘De Beers as the hidden jewel in Anglo’s crown and values the unit at $20 billion, reports say. The presentation followed the publication of the first company’s first Insight report in September, reports say.

Although there are still some ‘secrets’ at De Beers including cost of mining diamonds and the profit margins at its retail business, reports say. Anglo Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani seeks that all the company’s businesses prove their worth, making more openness likely. He further added that ‘realizing De Beers’ value could be best served by making the unit a publicly traded company again’, reports say.