The new companies – which are yet to be named – will be sightholders for the remainder of the 2012-2015 Supplier of Choice (SoC) contract period.
De Beers Group said the new client names would be added to its directory on 31 March, when the new contract period begins.
Under the SoC re-planning process, businesses that demonstrated sufficient demand through its auction sales in 2012 were able to qualify for term contract supply and sightholder status.
Sightholder status is subject to De Beers’ forecast rough diamond availability and the eligible applicant’s submission of a Contract Proposal Questionnaire (CPQ).
Commenting on the announcement, De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier said: “Our sightholders represent the world’s leading ‘diamantaires’, and today’s announcement means that we will be better able to supply them with the right diamonds to support them in adding maximum value to our finite resource.”
Varda Shine, global sightholder sales executive vice president added: “The introduction of dynamism into this contract period is a further evolution in our Supplier of Choice strategy, which provides a greater level of flexibility for sightholders and enables De Beers’ distribution to be more efficient. We look forward to building strong and productive partnerships with our new sightholders.”
According to the company, applicants were subject to the “same rigorous and objective selection process” as applicants that applied for supply at the start of the 2012-2015 contract period in 2011.
Furthermore, all applicants were required to adhere to the De Beers Best Practice Principles, ensuring that sightholders were “living up to diamonds” by adopting clear ethical standards in their business practices.
In addition to the qualification of new sightholders, the re-planning process also provided opportunities for existing sightholders to qualify for new rough diamond allocations as part of their 2013-2014 intention to offers (ITOs).