Billionaire strikes deal with Angola

Billionaire Lev Leviev struck a deal with Angola allowing him to charge more for diamonds he mines in the country, it emerged yesterday. The Israeli property magnate would be able to sell gems from his Luminas mine on world markets instead of at a discount to specified Chinese and Dubai traders, said people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the accord was not public. The deal might allow Leviev to raise prices by up to 50 percent. Stones from Catoca, the world’s fourth-biggest mine, are sold through Angola’s Sodiam state marketing unit to preferred buyers at an average of $100 (R1 065) a carat, while they can fetch about $150 on the world diamond market. – Bloomberg