De Beers Shelves "Out of Sight" Plan

I wrote on Tuesday about De Beers’ plan to sell to non-sightholders, and some of the questions it raised. Now we hear that the plan has been put, at least temporarily, on ice, and the company will instead offer its “refused boxes” exclusively to other sightholders in the week after sight week.

Lynette Gould, De Beers’ oft-quoted spokeswoman, told me: "[DTC managing director] Varda [Shine] communicated [Wednesday] to the sightholders that DTC  will be testing second week sales the week after the February sight and, yes, they will be exclusively for the Sightholders.  The goods that will be sold in the second week will consist of refused boxes and out of balance stock not required for fulfilling future ITOs [Intentions to Offer].”

So how about the plans for sales to non-sightholders? “They are still under consideration but not for the February sight.”