International Gemological Institute (IGI) filed last week for an initial public offering with the Bombay Stock Exchange, seeking to raise 40 billion Indian rupees, or approximately $477 million.
The prospectus described IGI—which operates 31 labs and 18 schools across 10 countries—as “the world’s second-largest independent certification and accreditation services provider.” (GIA is first.) It pegged IGI’s overall share of the grading report market at 33%. For just lab-grown diamonds, IGI’s market share is 65%, the filing said.
During the first three months of 2024, IGI logged 2.15 billion rupees (about $25.7 million) in revenue, almost all from grading reports, according to the prospectus. About 60% of those reports were for lab-grown diamonds, 18.8% were for natural diamonds, and 19.9% were for studded jewelry and colored stones.
IGI’s total revenue in 2023 was 6.5 billion rupees ($75.1 million), up from 4.99 billion rupees ($57.8 million) the year before.
IGI estimated rough lab-grown diamond production at 11 million carats in 2023, but predicted it will rise to 25 million to 30 million carats by 2028. In the prospectus, IGI said China and India were the world’s leading producers of lab-grown diamonds, accounting for around 80% of global volume in 2023. The United States is the third-largest LGD producer, with a 10% share, it said.
Blackstone Group’s Singapore subsidiary BCP Asia II Topco purchased IGI in May 2023 for $569.65 million, from China’s Fosun Group, which owned 80% of IGI. The family of founder Roland Lorie held a 20% share.
(Photo courtesy of IGI)
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