Rosy Blue Carat S.A. Issues Second Diamond-Backed Bonds

Antwerp-based diamond firm Rosy Blue announced today (Wednesday) the issue of bonds backed by a $50 million stock of diamonds. This is the second such action by Rosy Blue, which is the only diamond firm to carry out such a bond issue.

Rosy Blue Carat S.A., a special-purpose company incorporated in Luxembourg, privately placed $50 million of Class A2 notes. The notes are rated Long-term ‘A’ by rating by the international rating agency, Fitch Ratings and will rank pari passu with the existing $100 million Class A notes issued November 2001.

Under the transaction, Rosy Blue N.V. will sell all its stock of rough and polished diamonds to Rosy Blue Carat S.A., which in turn places them in consignment pending their sale to final buyers.

Payments of interest and principal to noteholders are backed by the cash flows from the on-going sale to final buyers.

“The overall performance of the transaction to date has remained satisfactory,” said today Rosy Blue COO Amit Bhansali in a press release. “By increasing the amount of outstanding notes, we are able to raise additional funding which will be used for working capital and trading purposes”.