Fortunoff diamond auction:73% recovery achieved

SimplexDiam Inc. announced a 73% recovery on Fortunoff's loose diamonds. Said CEO Yogesh Madhvani, "We knew we'd attain a tangibly better recovery than the competition, that's why we took the project. One has to remember that this isn't a going-out-of-business sale, it's an auction to the trade. These aren't certified stones, they're 70 pointers down. Both the bidders and the estate seem quite happy with the result."

Madhvani and his team are in fact no strangers to record breaking auctions. In May of 2008 he and his team were a hair's breadth away from winning $17,000,000 of diamonds, at auction, of the LID diamond inventory, only to lose it in the combined bidding. Consensus Advisor's Chris Ellis has credited them with being integral to the auction's process and success

Returning to Fortunoff, let's put the achievement in perspective: Recent wholesale auctions have recovered between 35% and 55% of wholesale cost. Retailers usually pay 20% markup on loose diamonds under 70 points. In other words, retailers own the loose diamonds at 120 cents on the wholesale dollar. Doing the math, this means that Simplex recovered 87.6% (73% of 120 cents) on wholesale cost as opposed to the 35%-55% one normally sees. We can't find a trade auction in recent recorded history that's even within 25 points of this number.

Says VP of Finance, Shail Madhvani: "This is a high watermark. Still, I must say we have faith in our math. We've been meticulous about keeping data over the years and using it to improve results. It's this data that has made it possible to build lots that will be most attractive to potential bidders. Intelligent selection, based on multiple variables, allows us to maximize value for the bidder and the estate. It has taken us decades to understand the secondary market this well. We still work hard each time to improve our models."

SimplexDiam Inc. values and purchases diamonds and fine jewelry. They have functioned as a stalking horse (reserve bidder) in the LID Deal, guaranteeing, in partnership, over $20,000,000. They served as a bidder and winner of the Friedman's, Whitehall, Colibri, and Christian Bernard residual jewelry inventories. Most recently they performed as an auctioneer of loose diamonds for the Fortunoff Estate in bankruptcy. They are also winners at many major retailers' quarterly jewelry auctions and provide services to small jewelry retailers and pawn shops by valuing and purchasing closeout diamonds and jewelry they acquire from individuals and diamond traders. Additionally, their going-out-of-business division. (PRWeb)