Former De Beers Group CEO Gareth Penny—who is said to be head of the consortium on tap to buy the diamond-mining company—is scheduled to be the featured speaker at the opening of CIBJO’s Centenary Congress in Vicenza, Italy, next month.
Penny (pictured) accepted an invitation to speak at what is expected to be one of the largest gatherings of jewelry-industry leadership in one room at the same time, CIBJO representatives tell JCK. Penny’s talk is scheduled for Sept. 4.
CIBJO reps say they do not know the topic of Penny’s talk, but the session is likely to be standing-room-only as congress attendees wonder if he will address the proverbial elephant in the room: How will a Penny-led consortium find a way to solve De Beers’ valuation decline and address the competition issues facing the natural diamond industry?
In July, it was reported that Penny’s group as well as “at least three private groups” were interested in purchasing De Beers from mining company Anglo American. Anglo American in May 2024 said it wanted to sell De Beers as part of its overall restructuring plan.
Since that announcement, Anglo American has written down De Beers’ value twice. It took $2.9 billion of its value in early 2025, and another $2.3 billion in February 2026. It previously did a write-down of $1.6 billion in early 2024 for three total impairments over three years.
Reports in July said Anglo American may need to sell De Beers at a value of $1 billion—a fraction of the billions De Beers was valued at when Anglo American, Debswana, and the Oppenheimer family took it private in 2001. Today, Anglo American owns 85% of the company; the government of Botswana owns the remaining 15%.
Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad in early August told the Financial Times that De Beers and the diamond industry “misjudged” the lab-grown diamond threat. He also said it may take up to 18 months to fully finalize the De Beers sale because of the long anti-trust approval process.
Penny currently is the chairman of Ninety-One PLC and Ninety-One Ltd., a global business with more than $247 billion of assets under management, CIBJO said. He also is chairman of EnQuest PLC, a U.K.-listed integrated energy company focused on the management and decommissioning of mature oil and gas assets.
He also served as chairman of MMC Norilsk Nickel, a producer of nickel and palladium, and as a nonexecutive director and chair of the remuneration committee of Julius Baer Group, an independent Swiss wealth management group.
Most of Penny’s 22-year career has been in the global diamond industry, where he held senior leadership roles at both Anglo American and De Beers, the last five years of which he was group CEO of De Beers. During his tenure, CIBJO said he played a central role in advancing responsible sourcing initiatives through the Kimberley Process, introduced the Supplier of Choice strategy that shifted the industry from a supply-driven to a demand-led model, and spearheaded the creation of Forevermark, De Beers’ first proprietary consumer diamond brand, which debuted in 2008.
The 2026 CIBJO Congress will take place from Sept. 4 through Sept. 7 in Vicenza at the Fiera di Vicenza exhibition center, alongside the VicenzaOro show. Declared the Centenary Congress, it will mark 100 years since CIBJO’s establishment in 1926.
(Photo courtesy of CIBJO)
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