De Beers valuation slashed to $2.3bn as sale may be split in two or three parts

Anglo American slashed the balance-sheet value of De Beers to $2.3 billion from $4.1 billion in March 2026, a reduction of nearly a third that contributed to a $3.7 billion full-year loss at the parent group, as chief executive Duncan Wanblad acknowledged the sale process had become more complicated than initially expected.

Wanblad said the diamond business would likely "be sold in three parts, potentially, or two parts, potentially," depending on how negotiations progressed, adding that "there isn't one big strategic entity that can come in and buy a business the size and shape of De Beers." The comment reflected the practical difficulty of finding a single buyer willing and able to take on De Beers's mines, sales operations and brand as one package.

A crowded bidder list

By this stage the sale process had drawn in a wide range of parties in what was described as a binding bid phase: the governments of Botswana and Angola, former De Beers chief executives Bruce Cleaver and Gareth Penny each fronting separate consortiums, mining financier Michael O'Keeffe, Vedanta's Anil Agarwal, India's KGK Group and KapuGems, and Qatari sovereign funds. Such a broad and disparate field made a straightforward single-buyer transaction increasingly unlikely.

Prices keep falling too

The valuation cut came just weeks after De Beers had been forced to cut diamond prices again in January, following earlier reductions in late 2024. Lab-grown diamonds had by this point captured an estimated 20% to 25% of the total diamond jewellery market by value, and close to half of all engagement ring sales in some markets — a structural shift that made it harder for any buyer to underwrite a high valuation for De Beers's mined-diamond business.

What a split sale would mean

Breaking De Beers into pieces could see its African mining joint ventures — in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa — separated from its global sales and marketing operation, a structure that might suit sovereign bidders such as Botswana and Angola, who are primarily interested in the mines and the leverage that comes with them, more than in running a global diamond brand. The prospect of a fragmented sale added yet another layer of uncertainty for the thousands of workers and the governments whose revenues depend on De Beers's operations.

Sources

• Ecofin Agency: Anglo American Takes Fresh $2.3 Billion Hit on De Beers Ahead of 2026 Sale, 10 Mar 2026

Photo: A visit to the Diamond Trading Company Botswana, part of the De Beers business Anglo American is trying to sell. Vice President's Secretariat, Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India.