Alrosa Not To Renew DB Agreement, Plans JV With Lazare Kaplan
July 23, 03
Alrosa Vice President Sergey Olin said at an interview Monday that the Russian diamond miner does not plan to renew its five-year, $4 billion sales agreement with De Beers. The agreement came under European Community scrutiny in January.
In the same interview Olin also reported plans to set up a manufacturing joint venture with diamond polisher and jewelry manufacturer Lazare Kaplan, possibly as a substitute to the De Beers deal, giving a direct outlet polished to the market.
If the JV moves as planed, the operation will polish $150 million worth of diamonds annually, he said, and manufacture high-end luxury jewelry with the hopes of forging cooperartions with such name as Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef, Bulgari and Harry Winston.
Olin hopes the strategy, to be presented to the EC by the fall, will ease pressure by the regulatory body and approve the current agreement with De Beers.
It should be noted that announcement of not renewing agreements with De Beers were made by Alrosa before, especially before and during negotiations for agreement renewals, and are at times viewed as negotiation tactics.
A De Beers spokesperson told IDEX Online, the company and Alrosa “remain committed to the trading agreement and hope to continue the very useful and constructive dialogue that they have had with the Commission.”