FEATURE

De Beers is becoming a symbol of how increasing sales of lab-grown stones are adversely affecting the diamond market. The company suffered a third-straight write down in 2025 as its corporate parent,

Anglo American

nears a sale of the business.

Anglo American wrote down the value of De Beers by $2.3 billion last year, the company reported Friday. This followed impairments of $2.9 billion in 2024 and $1.6 billion in 2023. The carrying value of the business is down to just $2.3 billion.

Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said on the company’s conference calls that it is in “advanced stages of discussion with a select group of interested parties.”

Analysts think a sale of the business could be announced soon.

De Beers mines most of its natural stones in Botswana. The Botswana government owns 15% of De Beers and could emerge as one its buyers.

Lab-grown stones now make up an estimated 50% of the engagement ring market at prices that can be a fraction of natural stones.

An index of diamond prices tracked by BofA Global Research is at its lowest level in more than 20 years. This offers a sharp contrast with gold, which is above $5,000 an ounce and near its recent record highs.

De Beers once dominated the diamond trade and was a key part of Anglo American, now a U.K. company but with South African roots.

De Beers had a loss of $0.5 billion in 2025 as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda), against break-even results in 2024 and $1.4 billion of profits in 2022.

Revenue of $3.5 billion last year was just over half the $6.6 billion in 2022. Production fell 12% last year to 21.7 million carats, capping a drop from 35 million carats in 2022.

Anglo American is keen on selling De Beers even if it gets little for the business as the mining company focuses on copper, a big beneficiary of the global electrification trend. Anglo reached a merger of equals deal with

Teck Resources

to create a leading global copper company. Anglo American’s U.S. shares (NGLOY) are up over 60% in the past six months to around $25 on optimism about the deal and copper. The company is now valued at $60 billion.

Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina wrote after the Anglo results that the stock remains one of his top mining picks as it “rerates” to more of a copper play, with copper expected to account for 70% of earnings over time. He sees the Teck deal closing this year.

His view is that exiting De Beers and other businesses such as nickel and met coal will help Anglo’s valuation. The company divested in the platinum business last year.

On the earnings call, an analyst suggested a spinoff to De Beers holders might be a better outcome given the low price the business will likely receive.

Wanblad replied that a De Beers spinoff would be a challenge given the low valuation of comparable companies.

Mined diamonds have rarely been more out of favor with investors. The apparent fear is that cheap lab-grown stones are killing the profitability of the overall market. That may allow buyers of De Beers to buy the storied company for a cheap price.

Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com