A Zambian court has ordered the liquidation of a company owned by Israeli diamond billionaire Lev Leviev as the fight with his local partner in an emerald mine rages on.
The Zambian High Court placed Frango Finance Ltd., which owns half of Gemcanton Investments Holdings, in compulsory liquidation after receiving a petition on Feb. 18, according to a statement published in the Daily Nation newspaper.
Lev Leviev
Photographer: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images
Leviev will contest the order, said his lawyer, Dickson Jere. “We have been served with an order which was issued without hearing my client,” he said in a text message. “We will be going to challenge it in court as Frango is not even a Zambian-registered company.”
Leviev and Abdoulaye Ndiaye became embroiled in legal battles soon after the diamond magnate bought half of what was previously known as the Grizzly emerald mine from Ndiaye in Zambia’s Copperbelt province in 2015.
Bloomberg-Zambia’s High Court rejected an appeal by an employee of diamond billionaire Lev Leviev against his deportation, according to official documents seen by Bloomberg.
In a ruling dated June 19, Judge Dancewell Bowa said he didn’t “find any illegality, unreasonableness or procedural impropriety” by the Department of Home Affairs when it expelled Eli Nefussy, the co-chief executive officer of emerald mine Gemcanton Investments Holdings, on November 28.
Eli was challenging his deportation on grounds that he wasn’t afforded the opportunity to make representations before his expulsion. Gemcanton is jointly owned by Leviev and Wolle Mining Ltd. Previously known as the Grizzly emerald mine.
Gemcanton was built by Abdoulaye Ndiaye, a naturalized Zambian originally from Senegal.
Nefussy’s lawyer, Dickson Jere, said they would appeal the ruling. “Courts have powers to review reasons given by the state for deportation, but the judge misdirected himself when he refused,” Jere said in a text message.
Billionaire Leviev Adds Zambia Emeralds to Diamond Portfolio
Billionaire Lev Leviev, who made his fortune undercutting De Beers’ former diamond monopoly, has bought half of one of Africa’s biggest emerald mines.
Leviev bought into the Grizzly emerald mine in Zambia’s Copperbelt province, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kombadayedu Kapwanga, managing director Leviev’s Namibian unit, said by phone. The operation has been renamed Gemcanton Investments Holdings.
A spokesperson for Africa Israel Investments Ltd., a listed company controlled in which Leviev is the biggest shareholder, didn’t return phone calls and emails seeking comment. A spokesperson at LLD Diamonds, Leviev’s jewelry business, didn’t return calls either. Leviev used his Israel-based diamond unit to purchase half of Grizzly, Kapwanga said, without providing further details.
The move into emeralds marks a change of course for Leviev. Born in Soviet Uzbekistan before fleeing to Israel in 1971, he worked as an apprentice in a diamond-polishing plant and established his own factory, striking deals with diamond-producing countries such as Russia and Angola.
He went on to own an 18 percent stake in Angola’s Catoca diamond mine, one of the world’s biggest, before selling to Chinese investors to focus on the Luminas mine in the African country. As well as his Leviev jewelry company, he controls a real estate empire from Moscow to New York through Africa-Israel Investments Ltd.
Emerald prices have soared by more than tenfold in the past eight years, as top producer Gemfields Plc sought to expand the market for the green stones and boost advertising. Emeralds were previously mainly produced by artisanal miners, meaning there wasn’t a consistent supply enough for retailers to run production lines or advertise them. The company owns the Kagem mine, Zambia’s biggest producer.
Gemfields Chief Executive Officer Ian Harebottle said the company has tried to contact Leviev.
“I’ve written to them a few times and said ‘welcome to the area, let’s talk.’ They’ve been non-responsive so far,” Harebottle said in April. “Colored stones offer a great opportunity with great growth potential. It was inevitable that someone else was going to look this way.”
Pallinghurst Resources, which has a 47 percent stake in Gemfields, made an offer in May to buy the shares it doesn’t already own in the company. An independent Gemfields committee said the offer undervalued the company.
Shares in Gemfields rose 3.7 percent by 13:11 p.m. in London to trade at 35 pence.
LOSTMESSIAH 