Court approves sale of Fabrikant assets

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York has approved the sale of assets of diamond wholesale giant M. Fabrikant and Sons Inc. According to The Associated Press, Wilmington Trust Co. and Surya Capital LLC won the right to purchase inventory and other assets from the diamond wholesaler, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall.

The AP reported that Wilmington Trust is a corporate lender based in Wilmington, Del. According to court papers, the company paid $41.5 million for the assets. Records did not indicate how much Surya Capital, a distressed hedge fund, would pay.Closing date for the sale is June 8, according to court documents.

Fabrikant gained court approval to auction assets in April. Assets cited in court papers included inventory from both M. Fabrikant and Sons and Fabrikant-Leer International, accounts receivable from both companies and the 27 percent interest that Fabrikant holds in Fabrikant-Tara International.The minimum reserve prices that Fabrikant, in consultation with retained professionals, had set for its assets totaled $48.5 million, court papers said.At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Fabrikant cited annual sales of $370 million and said it owed lenders about $161.9 million.It is unclear what the impact of the asset sale will be on the 112-year-old company.

Fabrikant Chief Executive Officer Matthew Fortgang, representing both M. Fabrikant and Sons and Fabrikant-Tara International at the JCK Las Vegas show, would not comment on the assets sale. He noted that business at the show had been good.