DiamondBuzz
Angola, Botswana eye stake in De Beers
Botswana is pushing to secure a majority stake in De Beers by October, President Duma Boko confirmed. The country, reeling from a prolonged diamond slump, is negotiating financing with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund and other partners to raise its shareholding beyond the current 15%. ANGOLA has submitted a bid for a minority stake in De Beers, proposing to establish a pan-African consortium of diamond-producing nations to jointly operate the world-renowned company currently being sold by Anglo American.
President Duma Boko said his government intends to finalize a deal by the end of October, despite ongoing negotiations between Anglo and other potential buyers. He confirmed Botswana is in talks with partners, including Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, to help finance the deal.
Securing a controlling stake would raise Botswana’s interest in De Beers above 50%. The company sources about 70% of its rough diamonds.The Financial Times reported that Endiama, Angola’s state-owned diamond producer, had made a “fully financed offer”, seeking to create a partnership that would also involve Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.
Separately, Angola has submitted a formal bid for a minority stake in the loss-making miner, valued between $3 billion and $4 billion. The moves come as Anglo American faces mounting pressure to divest De Beers ahead of an informal year-end deadline. Angola’s proposal is for De Beers to remain a private company in which African countries have a stake.
DiamondBuzz
Big, Slightly Tinted Diamonds: Object Of Desire In The US Market
Buyers Of 2.5-Carat and Up Pieces Are Increasingly Choosing Stones With J Color Or Lower, Sometimes Much Lower On The Color Scale
Big, slightly tinted diamonds are suddenly the object of desire in the US — and the industry is asking why.
Buyers of 2.5-carat and up pieces are increasingly choosing stones with J color or lower, sometimes much lower on the color scale, say retailers and traders. That shift signals more than a fashion tweak: it reflects how affluent shoppers now want their diamonds to read as “natural” at a glance.
Lab-grown gems typically come in the brightest, clearest grades, so a warmly hued, imperfect-looking stone has become a visible badge of authenticity — a deliberate antique vibe in a polished world where synthetics dominate. No surprise: The Knot reports that 61% of U.S. couples now pick lab-grown rings.
A report explores who’s buying these larger, lower-color stones, how cultural moments and celebrities — think Taylor Swift — helped fuel the taste for them, and why antique cuts seem particularly suited to carrying color. The piece also ties this appetite to broader marketing narratives, including De Beers’ push for so-called “Desert diamonds.”
It’s not all doom and gloom for mined diamonds. Larger sizes — especially 2 carats and above and long fancy shapes — have held up better than smaller goods over the past year. The report isolates this rising niche and asks the key question: can these warm-toned showstoppers withstand the continued rise of lab-grown competition?
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