Alrosa Board Approves Kristall Takeover

Alrosa Kristall polished diamonds

Alrosa is set to finalize its acquisition of diamond manufacturer Kristall in a $29 million deal in October, following approval from its supervisory board.

Alrosa expects the RUB 1.89 billion sale-and-purchase agreement to be signed by the end of the month, with a concrete plan for the manufacturer’s integration into the company to be in place by the end of the year, it noted.

Kristall is the leading polished-diamond manufacturer in Russia and Europe, processing more than 200,000 carats of rough annually. While Alrosa already runs a manufacturing unit, the acquisition of Kristall is set to expand its share of the polished-production market from 20% to 70%.

“Despite the fact that Alrosa is currently a key supplier of rough diamonds to Kristall, it accounts for as little as 0.5% of Alrosa’s sales of rough diamonds,” Alexey Philippovskiy, Alrosa’s deputy CEO, said Wednesday. “The deal value is less than 1% of Alrosa’s net assets and, according to our estimates, the purchase price will not exceed Kristall’s net assets at the date of the transaction.”

Last year Kristall produced 105,700 carats of polished diamonds, with sales of 111,700 carats. It reported revenue of RUB 12.8 billion ($199.1 million) and profit of RUB 40.7 million ($633,040). The company also operates a jewelry entity and a business that produces tooling and equipment for the diamond industry.

Source: diamonds.net

Alrosa mulls acquisition of diamond factory

Krystall

Russian diamond miner Alrosa is considering the acquisition of Russia’s largest producer and exporter of polished diamonds, Kristall, which is valued at 1.89 billion ruble.

Kristall processes more than 200 000 ct/y of rough diamonds, with 90% of diamond feedstock supplied by Alrosa.

Krystall Diamonds
Krystall Diamonds

“On the back of the increasingly complex economic environment, Kristall has been going through some financial challenges in recent years. However, the business maintains its output volumes boasting rich heritage, state of the art equipment, and extensive expertise in rough diamonds cutting,” said Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov on Tuesday.

He noted that Alrosa was not new cutting and polishing and that its Diamonds Alrosa branch was responsible for about 20% of polished diamonds in Russia. After consolidating Kristall, the group’s share in the Russian market would reach as much as 70%.

“We are quite optimistic about the integration prospects and have already embarked on preparatory work to start joint operations in cutting and sales.

We will focus our efforts on developing new sales channels, including those in the US and Chinese markets, while also improving production efficiency by leveraging the latest diamond processing technologies, automating routine operations, and creating competence hubs to bring together high tech equipment and industry professionals.

We expect that our efforts to merge our cutting facilities will help reduce production costs and, subject to a favourable market environment, take up a considerable share of the market for best in class polished diamonds.”

If approved by the Alrosa supervisory board, the sale and purchase agreement is expected to be signed by the end of this month.

The Kristall diamond factory was founded in Smolensk in 1963. Last year, Kristall production and sales were 105 700 ct and 111 700 ct of polished diamonds, respectively. Its total revenue amounted to 12.8 billion ruble, and net profit reached 40.7 million ruble.

In 2002, Kristall launched its own jewellery production, and the retail chain of Smolensk Diamonds, its jewellery entity, now has over 50 sales points in 30 Russian cities. Kristall’s another entity, Almaz Servis, produces tooling and equipment for the diamond industry.

Source: miningweekly