Anglo Expects to Write Down De Beers’ Value, Again

By Rob Bates | February 07, 2025

Anglo American said Thursday it expects to write down De Beers’ carrying value for the second year in a row, in response to the industry’s continued weakness.

The London-based miner, which owns 85% of De Beers, wrote in its annual production report that it’s “assessing the impact of diamond market conditions and general fall in demand in China, which is likely to lead to an impairment at the full-year results. We expect full-year 2024 EBITDA for De Beers to be marginally negative.”

De Beers is currently valued at $7.6 billion, following a $1.6 billion write-down last February. Its new valuation will be announced when Anglo releases its 2024 financial results on Feb. 20.

Book value isn’t the only thing that’s being cut. De Beers plans to unearth between 20 million and 23 million carats in 2024—a substantial drop from its original goal of 30 million to 33 million. In 2024, it mined 24.7 million carats of diamonds, 22% less than in the prior year.

De Beers’ production report, also issued Thursday, said the company is “implementing actions to further manage cash flow, spending, and inventory levels in 2025.”

The report noted that 2024 rough diamond sales fell 28%, due to “challenging trading conditions,” which were fueled by “cautious retailer purchasing and higher than normal levels of inventory in the midstream.”

In related news, the government of Botswana, which owns the remaining 15% of De Beers, confirmed plans to up its share and possibly become De Beers’ majority owner.

Botswana’s minister of mines and energy, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, told the Financial Times, “We care about the sustainability of the business, so we want to make sure that whatever decision is made on De Beers, we are part and parcel of it.”

Anglo said last year that it intends to sell its stake in De Beers. In the FT article, Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said that as no buyer has emerged, De Beers appears headed for an IPO. But he indicated that spinning off De Beers could take a while, and Anglo may not achieve its goal of doing so by the end of the year.

“It is not impossible that we’ll still have De Beers early next year, just in terms of when we’re expecting markets to recover,” he said.

(Photo: Getty Images)