CHAMWE KAIRA
De Beers chief executive officer, Al Cook says the long-running sale of the diamond producer could be concluded within weeks, with governments from southern Africa and experienced industry investors expressing interest in acquiring stakes in the company.
In Namibia, De Beers is a 50/50% partner with the government in Debmarine, Namdeb and the Namibia Diamond Trading Company.
Speaking at the Reuters NEXT Europe summit in London, Cook said negotiations had reached their most advanced stage after two years of discussions.
“I am hopeful that the sale of De Beers will happen in weeks rather than months going forward,” he said.
“It’s been a two-year period, there have been a lot of negotiations, and we have never been closer than we are to a sale,” he said during a discussion monitored by Observer Money.
Cook said countries with significant diamond industries, including Namibia, Botswana and Angola, were among those interested in taking equity stakes in De Beers alongside industry consortiums and companies with expertise in the sector.
“The good thing about us is that we have had countries that understand diamonds – Namibia, Botswana and Angola, want to take equity stakes in De Beers. We have consortiums and companies that know a lot about diamonds,” he said.
Cook said he envisaged the company’s future ownership as a public-private partnership combining governments and private investors with deep knowledge of both diamond supply and consumer demand.
“We have all the ingredients for a powerful public-private partnership. But as with all deals, we need to get over the line,” he said.
Reflecting on the company’s history, Cook said the former Oppenheimer family ownership recognised the importance of creating consumer demand before expanding production.
“The Oppenheimers understood that you need to create desire before you bring diamonds out of the ground. I am confident that the next owner of De Beers will be a combination of people who understand desire and supply,” he said.
Commenting on the announcement, local economist, Robin Sherbourne, said the move was a big bet on the future of natural diamonds. “This can only be a long-term investment.”
He added: “How will government shareholders ensure marketing spend will be sufficient to keep demand high? The government has a very poor track record in owning and running domestic commercial enterprises let alone international ones facing fierce competition.”
Sherbourne further wondered if decisions will be made on commercial or political grounds.
“How much ownership will N$3 billion get? If Botswana and Angola are co-shareholders, how will decisions be made, especially difficult decisions?”
Given that natural diamonds can compete with cheap mass-produced Chinese LGDs for GenZ consumers, he wondered if it would have been better investments that the government could make for N$3 billion like buying out the Iranians and South Africans from Rössing Uranium.
He also wondered where the government was going to get N$3 billion to buy a stake in De Beers.
Cook said De Beers had relaunched its global marketing efforts over the past two years, with renewed investment in promoting natural diamonds in the United States and other key markets.
The chief executive acknowledged that the industry has faced significant headwinds over the past three years, including geopolitical uncertainty, changing consumer demand and competition from synthetic diamonds.
“We are living in a turbulent world at the moment and the diamond industry is no exception to that,” he said.
Cook said US trade policy had also affected the company, noting that around 90% of the world’s diamonds are polished in India.
“US tariffs hit us hard. Ninety percent are polished in India and the US put a 50% tariff on India,” he said, adding that De Beers had responded by cutting overhead costs by US$100 million, equivalent to about 25%.
He described laboratory-grown diamonds as one of the industry’s biggest competitive challenges, particularly in the lower-priced jewellery segment.
“In the last year, we have seen demand pick up, but if you look at the five years as a whole demand has come down. Synthetic diamonds have come in and taken a portion of the market, particularly the lower-cost segment,” Cook said.
He said the diamond market experienced difficult trading conditions throughout 2023, 2024 and 2025, but noted that larger, high-quality natural diamonds were now enjoying stronger demand and rising prices.
“Larger high-quality diamonds are going up in prices and are going up in demand. Lower-quality diamonds are seeing lower demand and lower prices,” he said.
Cook said the challenge for De Beers was that most of its production consists of smaller diamonds, making a broader recovery across the market essential.
The United States remains the company’s largest market, accounting for more than half of total demand, while China’s prolonged decline in marriages has weighed on jewellery sales.
“The number of marriages in China has gone down by about 50% over the last decade. Over the last year or so we have seen China bottom out,” he said.
On the supply side, Cook said global diamond production was tightening as several major mines approached closure.
He said all three of Canada’s major diamond mines were expected to close by the end of 2027, while recent mine closures in Lesotho and South Africa also pointed to a contraction in global supply.
Cook added that historically the first important diamond-producing countries such as India, Brazil and Australia had already exhausted their commercially viable diamond resources, further supporting the long-term scarcity of natural diamonds.
