State approves De Beers acquisition in Arkhangelsk diamonds
The Russian government has approved global diamond corporation De Beers’ 49,99 percent acquisition in the Verkhotinskaya diamond field in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
With the government green light, years of conflict between De Beers and Lukoil comes to an end. The corporate dispute dates back to 1993 when De Beers’ subsidiary ADH established a joint venture with license holder Arkhangelskgeoldobycha, and the latter refused to hand over the license to the new company. Lukoil inherited the conflict when it in the mid-1990s bought Arkhangelskgeoldobycha. The values of the field are estimated to 5 billion USD, Rosbaltnord.ru reports. The field is located about 130 km north-east of Arkhangelsk city The two companies in April this year agreed that De Beers’ subsidiary ADH will get a stake in the project. However according to new Russian federal legislation government approval is required in strategic mineral projects. With the agreement, Alrosa gets a strong competitor on Russian territory. Alrosa is itself represented in Arkhangelsk through its subsidiary Severalmaz. With its cooperation with Lukoil, De Beers gets another firm foot in Russia.
