LID Inventory Bound for Bidz.com, Others

New York – A group of companies, including online jewelry auctioneer Bidz.com, submitted the winning bid on Wednesday for the assets of bankrupt diamond company LID Ltd.

The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the sale late last week.

LID Ltd. Chief Restructuring Officer Chris Ellis, a partner with investment banking and financial advisory firm Consensus Advisors, said Bidz.com, along with AV Jewelry, Fairway Diamonds and Kiran Jewels Inc., bid $32.85 million for LID's jewelry and loose-diamond inventory.

The bid represented 47.4 percent of the inventory's value.

It also topped the nearly $27 million in stalking horse bids submitted prior to the auction: SimplexDiam and GBC Inc. together bid $16.25 million for LID's jewelry inventory, while Disons Gems Inc. bid $10.68 million for the loose-diamond inventory.

In the end, however, the competition for LID's assets proved fierce.

Ellis said more than a dozen companies from all over the world packed the New York law offices of Mayer Brown and Platt for the auction, held on Wednesday morning.

"Everybody was surprised, including me, that it was robust a process as it turned out to be," he said.