Nicky Oppenheimer sold De Beers stake for five times today's price
Nicky Oppenheimer's 2011 sale of his family's De Beers stake to Anglo American is now viewed as a highly profitable exit given the company's current valuation. The diamond industry has faced significant headwinds, including the rise of synthetic diamonds.
Why it matters
This highlights the dramatic shift in the diamond market valuation and the long-term impact of synthetic alternatives on traditional luxury assets.
Nicky Oppenheimer sold his family's 40% holding in De Beers to Anglo American for $5.1 billion in 2011, ending eighty years of Oppenheimer control over the world's most famous diamond company.
Anglo American is now trying to sell 85% of the same company for about $1 billion.
Bloomberg reported in July that Anglo had selected a consortium led by Gareth Penny, a former De Beers chief executive, as preferred bidder. The Global Diamond Consortium would pay roughly $1 billion for the stake.
On those figures, the 40% the Oppenheimers sold would be worth about $471 million today, by Billionaires.Africa's calculation. They received more than ten times that.
The implied valuation of the whole company has fallen from around $12.75 billion at the time of their exit to $1.18 billion now.
Why the exit looked unremarkable at the time
Oppenheimer was not obviously acting from strength when he sold.
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