Miners to revive Faberge as luxury goods group

Mining investors led by the former head of mining group BHP Billiton plan to revive the Faberge brand it bought from consumer goods group Unilever as a diamond and luxury goods group, an official said on Monday.

"We're mining people, so we're in the process of hiring a team of specialists in the luxury goods sector to re-establish Faberge as the leading name in luxury goods," Sean Gilbertson, a partner in Pallinghurst Resources, told Reuters.

Pallinghurst, which announced on Monday along with partners it was seeking to raise up to $1.5 billion to invest in the resource sector, is headed by Brian Gilbertson, former chief of BHP Billiton and father of Sean Gilbertson.

Pallinghurst, which operates like a private equity fund, bought the Faberge brand from Unilever in January for an undisclosed sum mainly for use in the diamond and gems sector, he said in an interview from London.

Most details about the Faberge acquisition, including the price are subject to confidentiality, Gilbertson said.

"What we want to do is create the world's leading supplier of branded gemstones," he said. "But there is a natural follow-on opportunity and that is to re-establish Fabrege as the world's leading luxury goods name."

Under Unilever, Faberge was mainly a cosmetics brand, but the Anglo-Dutch firm also allowed other products to be sold with the name under licence.

The original Faberge company was founded in 1842 by Russian jeweller Gustav Faberge, who gained fame for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted eggs for Russian czars.