Focus: De Beers draws interest from billionaire Agarwal, Qatari funds, sources say
De Beers is being carved out of Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab as the London-listed miner refocuses on copper and iron ore but the move comes with global diamond prices under pressure.
Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources, which has mines in Zambia and South Africa, is among the interested parties, as part of a bigger group, two sources said.
Anglo and Agarwal both declined to comment.
Indian companies including KGK Group and Kapu Gems, which dominate the domestic cutting and polishing trade, and are De Beers's biggest customers, have also expressed an interest, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
KGK Group and Kapu Gems did not respond to requests for comment.
Anglo American, whose book value for De Beers stands at $4.9 billion, following $3.5 billion in impairments over the last two years, said it has retained financial advisers Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Centerview to help with a sale or a demerger and potential listing.
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US fiscal folly could create big, beautiful debt spiral
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. tax and spending bill passed on July 3 is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the country's deficit over the next decade. If the current debt trajectory continues unabated, it could set off a slow motion debt spiral that could endanger the Federal Reserve's independence. The sobering long-term debt projections of the Congressional Budget Office, opens new tab may actually understate the likely impact on U.S. debt-to-GDP levels of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill". The CBO based its estimate on the assumption that temporary increases in government spending and tax cuts will sunset at a projected date. But this new budget bill, which extended previous tax cuts and other measures, has shown that this sunset often never arrives. Thus, the long-term projections in the U.S. Treasury's annual financial report, opens new tab may be more realistic since they assume the current rate of government spending will continue indefinitely. In the Treasury forecast, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to increase to over 200% in 2050 compared to the CBO's estimate of around 145%. Scarier still, the Treasury forecasts that the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will reach 535% by 2100 if current spending plans continue. Proponents of tax cuts argue that they boost GDP growth and thus will slow the rise in debt-to-GDP, but the CBO estimates that the House Bill will only increase real GDP by an average of 0.5%, opens new tab over 10 years or 0.04% per year relative to the CBO's January 2025 projections. The Tax Foundation estimates that the Senate Bill will boost GDP growth by 1.2%, opens new tab in the 'long run'. That hardly makes a difference compared to an expected debt increase totalling almost 10% of GDP. If today's debt dynamics persist, the risk premiums in the U.S. Treasury market will almost certainly climb over the long run. Economists Martin Ademmer and Jamie Rush, opens new tab have analysed the drivers of 10-year Treasury real yields since 1970. They concluded that investors typically demand more risk compensation as the U.S. deficit increases, especially when there is competition from an ample supply of safe assets globally. Thus, Treasury yields rise. Their analysis concludes that these two factors together lifted the natural 10-year real yield for Treasuries by 1.3 percentage points between 2005 and 2023. If the deficit projections for the next decade are realized, this trend should continue. With all this in mind, it was notable that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week, opens new tab that he would not boost long-term Treasury bond sales given today's high interest rates. Since the pandemic, the average duration of U.S. government debt has declined significantly as the Treasury has favoured bills over longer-term instruments in an effort to keep interest expenses under control. One reading of Bessent's comments is that the Treasury is concerned about the country's ability to continue servicing its long-term debts if it borrows at today's elevated yields, a message that could push Treasuries' risk premium even higher, making long-term borrowing even less tenable. This reminds me of a similar episode in which a heavily indebted country faced a sudden spike in its already large deficit. As investors lost trust in the country's ability to pay back its debt, long-term yields rose, which in turn forced the government to issue debt at shorter and shorter maturities. This signalled to the market that the government would struggle to pay the existing debt, and this pushed long-term government bond yields even higher. The country's debt entered a doom loop. The country in question: Greece after the 2009 financial crisis. To be clear, I do not expect the U.S. to experience a similar implosion. 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The tax office gave secret 85pc discounts to large companies involved in the loan charge scandal, documents s. A Freedom of Information request has suggested that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached generous settlement deals with multi-million pound companies who used payroll loan schemes. Meanwhile, independent contractors were hit with life-changing bills. The agreements came to light after a campaigner submitted a Freedom of Information request which was then revealed in Parliament by Conservative MP, Greg Smith, during Treasury Questions on Tuesday. HMRC said it does not recognise the claims. MPs said the revelation was 'staggering'. Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, said: 'It is unacceptable that victims have been consistently refused the justice they deserve while large companies received settlements a decade ago. 'This information shows the need for a proper, independent inquiry that looks at the whole loan charge scandal.' The loan charge is a controversial law that left 50,000 self-employed workers with crippling tax bills and has been linked to 10 suicides. It was introduced in 2017 to target contractors who were paid through non-taxable loans rather than salaries. The loan schemes date back to the 1990s, and were often marketed as HMRC-compliant by respected tax advisers. But HMRC maintains that it never approved the schemes. It used the loan charge to claw back the unpaid tax from the workers, with many facing bills that exceeded their income. MPs and campaigners have accused HMRC of unfairly targeting and ruthlessly hounding the contractors while failing to go after the scheme promoters. Now, minutes of a meeting from 2019 between Lord Amyas Morse, who led the 2019 loan charge review, and the leader of the latest review, Ray McCann, reveal that HMRC offered discounts to settle the tax bills of employers who used the schemes. In the minutes of the meeting, Mr McCann is recorded as saying: 'The earlier settlement opportunity that had been open to large companies had included significant discounts, so that eventually the companies settled for somewhere in the region of 15pc in 2015.' He went on to say 'the contractors weren't offered these terms', and 'settlement opportunities have always had a discount, and contractor one is the only one that didn't.' Mr McCann is currently concluding the loan charge review, which was launched in January 2025 after calls from MPs. A former HMRC inspector, he was president of a professional body of tax advisers called the Chartered Institute of Taxation from 2018 to 2019. According to official figures, 800 companies paid HMRC £1bn through financial settlements related to the schemes between 2011 and 2015. This works out an average tax liability of £1.25m per firm. In Parliament earlier this week, Mr Smith said: 'A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that, for a number of schemes, HMRC has settled with large corporations for just 15pc of what was owed. 'With the loan charge review ongoing, does the Chancellor agree with me that individuals should be treated no differently from the large corporations for which this precedent has been set?' Liberal Democrat MP Angus Macdonald, another APPG member, has tabled an Early Day motion – supported by 18 MPs so far – expressing 'astonishment' about the deals and the fact they have 'never been revealed to Parliament'. Mike Warburton, The Telegraph's tax columnist and former director at accountants Grant Thornton, said: 'These revelations have shown in stark contrast the way the Treasury and HMRC have treated large corporate taxpayers on the one hand and small contractors on the other.' Critics of the loan charge argue it retroactively punishes contractors who signed up to the schemes in good faith. The large timeframes involved create massive tax bills as years' worth of interest has rolled up on the debt. In one case, an individual earning £13,000 a year landed a £250,000 bill, according to the minutes of the meeting between Mr McCann and Lord Morse. Steve Packham, of the Loan Charge Action Group, said: 'Ten people have killed themselves as a direct result of HMRC's ruthless persecution of people who the Chancellor herself has described as 'victims of mis-selling'. 'Yet we now know that just a year before the loan charge was introduced to Parliament, HMRC agreed a deal with large companies letting them pay just 15pc of what they said they owed.' MPs and campaigners are now demanding that the Government offer contractors the same 15pc terms given to large corporations and open an inquiry into the scandal. Mr Smith, co-chairman of the Loan and Taxpayer Fairness APPG, said: 'It's absolutely staggering to discover that just a year before the loan charge was introduced to Parliament, that HMRC agreed a deal allowing large companies to settle for just 15pc of what HMRC said they owed, for use of similar arrangements.' He continued: 'Regardless of what Ray McCann recommends in his report on settlement terms, all those facing the loan charge and those pushed to settle to avoid it must all be offered no more than 15pc as full and final settlement.' HMRC said all settlements are agreed after considering the individual facts of each case and made under our published settlement terms. A spokesman said: 'We don't recognise these claims. We're absolutely committed to ensuring every taxpayer, regardless of size, pays the tax that's legally due. 'Given an independent review is under way it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.'
