Diamond company Petra Diamonds Limited announced that it had concluded an International Finance Corporation revolving credit facility. The arrangement with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group totaled $25 million and was initiated less than two weeks ago on July 4. At that time, Petra’s total bank debt facilities amounted to approximately $147.4 million, of which approximately $78 million remained available.



Given the lead times between the group’s now larger diamond tenders and the volatility experienced over the last 12 months of both diamond prices and the South African currency, these new revolving credit facilities provide Petra with additional scope and flexibility to execute its capital expenditure program and bring the company’s stated production and revenue growth opportunities to account.



Petra has stake in eight diamond mines, one of which is located in Tanzania, while the rest are in South Africa. It hopes to expand and ramp up production to over 5 million carats annually in the next seven years.