Antwerp gem trader Exelco seeks US bankruptcy protection

LONDON: Diamond trader Exelco NV, one of the industry’s most storied names, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.

The Antwerp, Belgium-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, listing up to US$100mil in liabilities, according to court filings.

UK bank Standard Chartered Plc and Belgium’s KBC Group NV are among its biggest creditors, according to a separate filing in Belgium. Exelco declined to comment.

The firm’s financial troubles are another blow to an industry that is struggling with thin manufacturing margins and the withdrawal of trade finance.

Standard Chartered, one of the two leading lenders, last year said that it was exiting the diamond-financing business, while KBC’s Antwerp Diamond Bank, which accounted for about 10% of the financing market at its peak, is being wound down.

Exelco lost its status earlier this year as one of De Beers’s 80 or so handpicked customers, known as sightholders, as it had been buying fewer gems from the top producer in recent years. It’s also a supplier to Signet Jewelers Ltd, which has seen sales slump in recent years.

The company owes US$35mil to Standard Chartered and US$15mil to KBC, according to the filing in Belgium.

The firm has between 50 and 99 creditors in total and between US$10mil and US$50mil in assets, the US filing shows.

Exelco was founded by Leon and Lior Kunstler and Jean Paul Tolkowsky in 1993. Tolkowsky is a scion of one of the industry’s most famous families who made their name cutting the biggest and most expensive gems. — Bloomberg