The appointment of an unexpected outsider to the top job at De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, will bring a "fresh pair of eyes" but does not herald a re-listing for the group, Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said.
De Beers said it had appointed Philippe Mellier, an executive from French engineering group Alstom with a background in the auto industry and marketing, as its new boss, ending a leadership search that has lasted almost a year.
"Within De Beers we spend a lot less time thinking about those sort of things (an IPO). We are a company that does not believe in the short term," Oppenheimer said in a telephone interview.
He dismissed suggestions the appointment could be part of a broader plan to re-list the producer as the market recovers from a savage downturn, a move that would bring De Beers full circle after it went private a decade ago. "What we are looking for Philippe to do is to take the company and position it for its next phase, but that is tens of years into the future."
Oppenheimer, whose family own 40 percent of the diamond miner, said the diamond market had continued its recovery in the first months of 2011, with strong demand in China and India and continued growth in the United States. He confirmed the Oppenheimer family has no plans to reduce its stake. De Beers is 45 percent owned by mining giant Anglo American.
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