LID had been negotiating in recent months with four US banks to lower its debts, while retaining assets as securities.
Diamond and jewelry company LID Ltd. New York, owned by David Elishayov, the brother in law of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) controlling shareholder Lev Leviev, has been given bankruptcy protection by a court in New York under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.
LID had been negotiating in recent months with four US banks to lower its debts, while retaining assets as securities. Elishayov began talks with creditor banks in the summer of last year over debts totaling $100 million, at a time when several traders on the Israel Diamond Exchange found themselves in financial difficulties, and he managed to reduce LID's debt by 50%.
However, some banks did not accept LID's plan and one even threatened to take unilateral action that would have put the company beyond rescue. Because of this, the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 19, 2007
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