HB Antwerp has reinstated Oded Mansori (pictured) as managing partner and director, heading off a lawsuit from one of the company’s founders.
“We were able to move past the internal differences of the last several weeks and emerge better positioned to redefine the natural diamond industry and deliver greater returns for the country of origin, specifically Botswana,” said cofounder Rafael Papismedov in a statement.
HB has four managing partners: Papismedov, Mansori, Shai de Toledo, and Boaz Lev.
“We have been able to grow from this experience and come back together stronger and more unified than ever to further promote HB as a model for meaningful change across the minerals sector,” Mansori said in the statement.
The news comes shortly after HB’s main supplier, Lucara Diamond, opted to break a 10-year sales agreement with HB for its largest diamonds. HB has declined comment on that action.
In March, Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi said there was an “agreement in principle” to take a 24% equity stake in HB. But at a press conference last week, Masisi said the country had no formal contract with HB Antwerp and would have to “determine a course of action.”
(Photo courtesy of Oded Mansori)
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