Chow Tai Fook Jewelery Group, the world's largest jewelry retailer, is considering acquiring a stake in some diamond mines in order to ensure the smooth supply of diamonds in the face of the ever-increasing demand for diamond jewelry in China.
Chow Tai Fook executive director Adrian Cheng said that some diamond mining companies offered his company to invest in their business and Chow Tai Fook is currently considering buying a stake in some diamond fields in Canada.
"We have many opportunities, but there are also obstacles. We will have to work in another country - it's either Africa, for example, Botswana, or somewhere in another part of the world, "he told Bloomberg News. "We need to calculate economic, political risks, hiring personnel is not an easy decision." The Chinese jewelry house already has subsidiaries both for cutting diamonds and for creating ready-made jewelry.
Cheng also noted that Chow Tai Fook is cautious about the mergers and acquisitions of other companies and currently is only considering the possibility of equity participation in diamond mining. He also added that all investment decisions will be made depending on the location of the mine and the quality of the stones mined on it, besides, the price of the deal can not yet be named.
Last week in Chow Tai Fook announced the results of the first half of 2014 fiscal year, which ended September 30. Sales of the jewelry house fell by 22% to $ 3.8 billion.
The company has 2,191 points of sale in China and plans to start trading in duty-free zones at airports in Korea and the Middle East.