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Exelco Int’l Follows N. America Subsidiary into Chapter 11
The diamond company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week in Delaware.
Wilmington, Del.--Exelco International Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware last week, less than three months after the filing of its North American subsidiary.
Also filing for bankruptcy that same day was Hong Kong-headquartered Exelco (Asia) Ltd., which lists Exelco International as its parent company.
Exelco International’s Chapter 11 petition states that its headquarters are in Ebene, Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa known for being a tax haven.
The company has between one and 49 creditors, and its assets and liabilities are within the same range, between $10 million and $50 million, court documents show.
Exelco International holds around 2 percent of the company, with the other 98 percent owned by co-founders Jean-Paul Tolkowsky (49 percent), the master diamond cutter, and Lior Kunstler (49 percent).
Kris Cuyvers, an external financial advisor, is listed as the chief restructuring officer for Exelco International, and the company is represented by the same attorneys as its North American subsidiary, Michael Nestor with the firm of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP in Delaware and the firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP out of New York.
Exelco North America, along with Exelco NV, FTK Worldwide Manufacturing BVBA and Ideal Diamond Trading USA, filed Chapter 11 in late September.
On Nov. 28, Exelco told the court it had found a $6 million stalking horse bidder in closeout company SimplexDiam, but its lender, KBC Bank NV, has moved to block that sale.
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