L.I.D. New York Auctions Assets

By Rob Bates -- JCK Online, 6/1/2008 2:00:00 AM

The New York office of L.I.D., currently operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, plans to sell most of its assets in a “363 sale” and has “no plans to remain open,” according to the company's restructuring officer.

“At this point there is no plan for the business going forward,” said Chris Ellis of Consensus Advisors, the company's chief restructuring officer, who was appointed by the court.

According to the bankruptcy filings, when L.I.D. “defaulted under [its] settlement order by failing to make the Initial Payment to the [company's] Lenders,” the lenders were given the ability “to take immediate possession and control of the Debtors' Assets.”

However, lenders are allowing L.I.D. to have a sale of its remaining “loose stone and finished jewelry inventory.”

Ellis noted most of the company's employees have been given severance, approved by the banks.

L.I.D. New York's parent company, L.I.D. Israel, which had been a Diamond Trading Company sightholder, also is operating under a court-appointed receiver in Israel, according to a release last year.

Still unclear was the fate of Four Points Corp., the retail chain owned by L.I.D. Israel. It is also in Chapter 11.

According to the most recent papers, it has already closed 14 of its 29 stores.