Lusix, the once promising lab-grown diamond company founded by Israeli mogul Benny Landa, has been sold for 9.5 million shekels (approximately $2.5 million), according to Israeli business publication Calcalist.
The report says the buyer is Panoji Fujimori, owner of EDP, a Japan-based producer of lab-grown diamond seeds.
JCK has learned that Fenix, the Indian lab-grown company, also bid for Lusix. (Fenix declined comment.)
The transaction requires court approval. Lusix filed for creditor protection under Israel’s insolvency law earlier this month.
Lusix’s low selling price is a surprise, as the diamond grower had received a reported $152 million in funding. In 2022, the company announced it had netted $90 million in an investment round, with LVMH Luxury Ventures among the participants. LVMH later used Lusix diamonds in a TAG Heuer watch.
The price was likely dampened by security concerns, company trustee Shai Bar Nir stated in legal papers, as quoted by Catalist.
“In light of the situation in Israel, it was difficult to recruit investors for the company,” he said. “Those who were interested had difficulty coming to Israel. Under these circumstances, it is not possible to continue looking for additional buyers and [Lusix] must act quickly to sell the company and transfer its assets.”
At least 20 of Lusix’s 65 employees will work for EDP, the Calcalist article said.
Landa didn’t dispute any of the report’s details but tells JCK: “We built Lusix with the aspiration of leading the LGD industry, both technologically and commercially. And indeed the technology is phenomenal, both in terms of quality and color. But with the market now flooded with cheap Indian diamonds that have dropped the wholesale price of rough LGD by over 90% in just two years, today we simply can’t compete with India’s subsidized power and ultra-cheap labor.”
He says the industry shouldn’t “eulogize” the company.
“There’s still another chapter to be written. Lusix has technology that can one day level the playing field again. Let’s hope the EDP–Lusix combination will enable it to do just that.”
Landa says he “will support Lusix any way I can, from the sidelines. It’s still my baby, but I have others, too.”
EDP did not respond to requests for comment.
(Photo courtesy of Lusix)
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