Gemfields in swoop for Fabergé at £89m

Faberge, the tsarist luxury jeweller famed for its encrusted eggs, is being taken over by London-listed miner Gemfields in a deal that values it at $142 million (£89 million).

The largest shareholder in both firms is private-equity group Pallinghurst, run by former BHP BIlliton chief executive Brian Gilbertson.

Ian Harebottle, chief executive of Gemfields, said: “This is a deal which will turn us into the leading coloured gemstones company in the world. For 7000 years, coloured gemstones like emeralds, rubies and amethysts were right up there, but for the last 50 years they have almost been forgotten.By putting together our output of the highest-quality ethical gemstones with the Fabergé heritage and design skills, we can carve out a much larger and grander market space.”

Fabergé was founded in 1842 and rose to prominence when Carl Fabergé became the Romanov family’s jeweller in the 1880s. The firm changed hands several times after the Russian revolution and was part of Unilever until Pallinghurst bought it in 2007.

It cleaned up the business — ending licences to perfume companies and Barbie, bringing in the Fabergé family as minority shareholders and opening a handful of shops, most recently in Bond Street - most recently in Bond Street.

In a complex all-share deal, Pallinghurst’s stake in the enlarged Gemfields will come down from 48% to 33%.