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Report Date : |
07.10.2014 |
IDENTIFICATION DETAILS
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Name : |
O.S.G. DIAMONDS LTD. |
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Registered Office : |
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Country : |
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Date of Incorporation : |
30.11.2008 |
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Legal Form : |
Private Limited Company |
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Line of Business : |
Dealers,
Importers, Exporters and Marketers of Rough Diamonds. |
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No. of Employees : |
Having 7 employees,
as of 2012, current number unavailable. |
RATING & COMMENTS
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MIRA’s Rating : |
B |
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RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
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26-40 |
B |
Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively
below average. |
Small |
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Status : |
Moderate |
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Payment Behaviour : |
No Complaints |
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Litigation : |
Exist |
NOTES:
Any query related to this report can be made
on e-mail: infodept@mirainform.com
while quoting report number, name and date.
ECGC Country Risk Classification List – June 1, 2014
|
Country Name |
Previous Rating (31.03.2014) |
Current Rating (01.06.2014) |
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Israel |
A2 |
A2 |
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Risk Category |
ECGC
Classification |
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Insignificant |
A1 |
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Low |
A2 |
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Moderate |
B1 |
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High |
B2 |
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Very High |
C1 |
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Restricted |
C2 |
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Off-credit |
D |
ISRAEL - ECONOMIC
OVERVIEW
Israel has a technologically
advanced market economy. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and pharmaceuticals
are among the leading exports. Its major imports include crude oil, grains, raw
materials, and military equipment. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits,
which are covered by tourism and other service exports, as well as significant
foreign investment inflows. Between 2004 and 2011, growth averaged nearly 5%
per year, led by exports. The global financial crisis of 2008-09 spurred a
brief recession in Israel, but the country entered the crisis with solid
fundamentals, following years of prudent fiscal policy and a resilient banking
sector. In 2010, Israel formally acceded to the OECD. Israel's economy also has
weathered the Arab Spring because strong trade ties outside the Middle East
have insulated the economy from spillover effects. The economy has recovered
better than most advanced, comparably sized economies, but slowing demand
domestically and internationally, and a strong shekel, have reduced forecasts
for the next decade to the 3% level. Natural gas fields discovered off Israel's
coast since 2009 have brightened Israel's energy security outlook. The Tamar
and Leviathan fields were some of the world's largest offshore natural gas
finds this past decade. The massive Leviathan field is not due to come online
until 2018, but production from Tamar provided a one percentage point boost to
Israel's GDP in 2013 and is expected to contribute 0.5% growth in 2014. In
mid-2011, public protests arose around income inequality and rising housing and
commodity prices. Israel's income inequality and poverty rates are among the
highest of OECD countries and there is a broad perception among the public that
a small number of "tycoons" have a cartel-like grip over the major
parts of the economy. The government formed committees to address some of the
grievances but has maintained that it will not engage in deficit spending to
satisfy populist demands. In May 2013 the Israeli government, in a politically
difficult process, passed an austerity budget to reign in the deficit and
restore confidence in the government's fiscal position. Over the long term,
Israel faces structural issues, including low labor participation rates for its
fastest growing social segments - the ultra-orthodox and Arab-Israeli
communities. Also, Israel's progressive, globally competitive, knowledge-based
technology sector employs only 9% of the workforce, with the rest employed in
manufacturing and services - sectors which face downward wage pressures from
global competition.
|
Source
: CIA |
O.S.G. DIAMONDS
LTD.
Telephone 972 3 612 00 08
Fax 972 3 612 02 00
Email: osgdiamonds@gmail.com
21 Tuval Street
Diamond Exchange, Yahalom Bldg.
RAMAT GAN 5252236,
ISRAEL
A private limited
company, incorporated as per file No. 51-420783-6 on the 30.11.2008, continuing
activities which began years earlier, as both owners are veteran diamond
dealers (date not forthcoming, see more CHARACTER).
Authorized share
capital of NIS 100,000.00, divided into:-
100,000 ordinary
shares of NIS 1.00 each, of which 100 shares amounting to NIS 100.00 were
issued.
1. Sylvain Goldberg, 50%,
2. Arie Laniado, 50%.
Sylvain Goldberg (also known
as Ehud Laniado), of Belgium.
Kobi Abutboul, Commercial Manager, Ms. Ariela Assoulin Abutboul, Finance
and Administration Manager.
We are informed
that shareholders Sylvain Goldberg and Arie
Laniado, who used to be subject's joint general managers, reside overseas are
not active in subject's management.
Dealers,
importers, exporters and marketers of rough diamonds.
Some 60% - 70% of
sales are for export (as of 2012).
Operating from rented
office premises, on an area of 200 sq. meters, in 21 Tuval Street (street name
is also referred to as 54 Bezalel Street), Diamond Exchange, Yahalom Building,
Ramat Gan.
Having 7
employees, as of 2012, current number unavailable.
Financial data not
forthcoming, though the Group has been known to be financially solid.
There is 1 charge
for an unlimited amount registered on the company's assets (all assets), in
favor of Israel Discount Bank Ltd. Charge placed in 2009.
Sales data not forthcoming.
Subject's shareholders hold other foreign companies, among them:
O.S.G. POLISHING LTD., Israel, sister company, importers, processors,
exporters and marketers of diamonds (see more CHARACTER).
OMEGA DIAMONDS, Belgium, rough diamonds trade, also holds 24.5% in
ASCORP, a large diamond corporation co-owned by diamond tycoon Lev Leviev
(24.5%) and the Angolan State (51%) – see more below.
Israel Discount Bank Ltd, Diamond Exchange Branch (No. 080), Ramat Gan.
Nothing
unfavorable learned on subject itself.
Subject's
official, Ms. Ariela Assoulin Abutboul, refused to update any data without
being informed of the supplier concerned.
Both subject's
shareholders are veteran diamond dealers. Ehud (Arie) Laniado and his partner
Sylvain Goldberg, both known as major Antwerp diamantaires (according to
reports, Laniado is the world's largest rough diamond dealer), own the Belgian
diamond company OMEGA DIAMONDS.
According to the
report published by the Israel Supervisor on Diamonds in the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, sister company O.S.G. POLISHING LTD. was ranked 10th
in the 2013 List of Israel's largest polished diamonds exporters with sales for
export of polished diamonds of US$ 77 million. In 2012 List it was ranked 13th
(sales of US$ 64 million) and 18th in the 2011 List (sales US$ 50
million).
Antwerp-based
OMEGA DIAMONDS, specialized in rough diamonds trade, has been involved in a
large-scale money laundering scheme. The case of OMEGA DIAMONDS is the largest
case of tax fraud in diamonds that has ever been investigated by the
prosecutor's office in Belgium, as reported, a theft case worth billions of
Euros. OMEGA was co-owned by subject's owners, Goldberg and Laniado (according
to reports, as the case blew out, Laniado sold his part in OMEGA, which also
narrowed very much its activities in Belgium). According to the suspicions,
based on the publication of the case, at the beginning of this century their
company, OMEGA, grew to become a world-scale player, after becoming partners to
the Angolan Government in ASCORP, the monopoly for export of diamonds from
Angola.
The rapid growth
of the company came to an end in 2006 when Antwerp’s authorities started their
investigation of the tax fraud, money laundering and large-scale cheating of
the Belgian customs service. OMEGA DIAMONDS’ business came into view of the
Belgian tax authorities because all the company’s transactions were made
exclusively via companies in Dubai, Tel Aviv and Geneva.
According to the
reports from June 2013, the matter reached the Supervisor on Diamond at the
Ministry of Industry & Trade, who checked the involvement of Israeli
diamond companies, and said that no violation of Israeli law was committed
(meaning also that subject itself is not involved!).
Reportedly, in
June 2013 OMEGA's attorneys reached a (controversial) arrangement with the
Belgian Federal Prosecution (representing the Tax Authorities), where OMEGA
will pay €160 million and the case will be closed.
However, in September 2013 there was a
development in the affair, where reportedly the Belgian customs demand now €4.6
billion (half for money evaded and half penalty), and a legal procedure opened
in Antwerp Court.
Israel's diamond
industry remarked on impressive growth in almost all trade parameters in 2013,
from the data by Israel's Diamond Administration at the Ministry of Economics:
Net export of polished diamonds rose by 11.6% in value terms from 2012,
reaching US$6.2 billion. The market has been volatile in recent years: the
branch –in Israel as well as globally- experienced its worst depression in the
2nd half of 2008 and 2009 due to the global economic crisis (almost
an entire freeze and collapse in sales of about 70% in the peak of the crisis),
then recovered in 2010 and fell again in 2012 (net export fell 23% in 2012 from
2011).
Net export of
polished diamonds continued to grow in the 1st half of 2014 with 6% rise
in value terms compared to 2013 (fell 6.7% in karat terms), reaching US$3.55
billion.
Net rough diamond
exports totaled US$2.9 billion in 2013, a mere rise from 2012, and totaled
US$1.75 billion in the 1stH 2014 (up 6% and 11.6% in value and in karat terms,
respectively).
Net imports of
polished diamonds remained in 2013 similar level as 2012 (after drop by 25% in
value in 2012 from 2011), totaling US$4.3 billion, and in the 1stH 2014 reached
US$2.05 billion (up 0.9% in value and 5.7% in karat). Net rough diamonds
imports rose 4% in 2013 summing up at US$4 billion, and summed at US$ 2.2
billion in the 1stH of 2014 (3% rise in value, 10% fall in karat terms).
The United States
continued to be Israel’s major market for polished diamonds, accounting for 37%
of the market in 2013 (35% in 2013). Hong Kong is the next largest market with
27% of exports, with Switzerland accounting for 9.3%, Belgium 7.3%, and India
accounting for 2.3% of Israel's polished diamond export.
According to the
President of the Israeli Diamonds Association, in 2010 the trade in the local
diamond sector rolled annual turnover of US$ 25 billion while total debt to the
banks stands on US$ 1.5 billion, down from US$ 2.4 billion in the eve of the
global crisis. The Ministry of Economics also assisted the local diamond
exporters by providing bank guarantees in total scope of NIS 1 billion.
In February 2009,
Israel was ranked as the world’s largest exporter of cut diamonds, followed by
India, Belgium and South Africa.
Local diamond sector
employs some 20,000 persons.
An affair of an
underground bank shocked the local diamond branch, after in late January 2012
Police raided the Diamond Exchange (after a long undercover operation),
arrested several individuals for investigation, caught diamonds and various
assets worth NIS millions, and blocked several bank accounts. It is suspected
that a group of people, including diamond dealers, run an illegal bank in the
Diamond Exchange compound for loans, money transfer abroad based on fictitious transactions
and exchange in volume of NIS 1 billion for several years.
The affair led to
several of reported bankruptcies of local diamond firms, a decrease of up to
70% in transactions in 2012, frozen bank accounts, and for a while to paralysis
(especially in purchase of raw diamonds) due to uncertainty among local and
foreign dealers.
In March 2012 the
Police decided to lower the profile of the investigation for a while a result
of the big pressure from the diamond branch (to stop the continuing damage inflicted)
and the Government (who is losing US$ hundred millions from decrease in tax
collection). In November 2012 the Police and Tax Authorities recommended on
indictments against the 25 suspects in the affair, among them diamond dealers,
for the said suspicions and obstruction of the investigation.
In June 2013 it
was reported that the Police resumed its raids on the diamonds branch, and
although names of suspects were not released, sources said that it is also
related to the above underground bank affair. In parallel, it is also reported
that the Tax Authorities and diamonds dealers' representatives are trying to
reach an arrangement for past debts.
In July 2014 3
indictments were filed to the Tel Aviv District Court against central
defendants in the affair, who provided foreign currency services to the
"underground bank" (not against diamond dealers at this stage), for
felonies of money laundering and tax evasion in volumes of US$ millions.
Apparently, there is
no direct connection of subject to the OMEGA affair, and it is known that
subject's owners are of great wealth and wide connections in the diamonds
sector, therefore –despite the refusal to update data- we figure subject to be
good for trade engagements in the short term. Yet, it is advised to follow-up
the results of the OMEGA case, because if subject's shareholders will have to
pay the concerned "new" sum of €4.6 billion, there will certainly be
consequences on all the Group's affiliates.
This report is
furnished to you in strict confidence for your EXCLUSIVE use. The correctness
of same is not guaranteed, but it has been obtained in good faith from sources
deemed reliable as of this date.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES
|
Currency |
Unit
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Indian Rupees |
|
US Dollar |
1 |
Rs.61.75 |
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1 |
Rs.100.07 |
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Euro |
1 |
Rs.77.95 |
INFORMATION DETAILS
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Analysis Done by
: |
SUB |
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Report Prepared
by : |
NIT |
RATING EXPLANATIONS
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RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
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>86 |
Aaa |
Possesses an extremely sound financial base with the strongest
capability for timely payment of interest and principal sums |
Unlimited |
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71-85 |
Aa |
Possesses adequate working capital. No caution needed for credit transaction.
It has above average (strong) capability for payment of interest and
principal sums |
Large |
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56-70 |
A |
Financial & operational base are regarded healthy. General unfavourable
factors will not cause fatal effect. Satisfactory capability for payment of
interest and principal sums |
Fairly Large |
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41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
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26-40 |
B |
Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively
below average. |
Small |
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11-25 |
Ca |
Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums
in default or expected to be in default upon maturity |
Limited with
full security |
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<10 |
C |
Absolute credit risk exists. Caution needed to be exercised |
Credit not
recommended |
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-- |
NB |
New Business |
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This score serves as a reference to assess SC’s credit risk
and to set the amount of credit to be extended. It is calculated from a
composite of weighted scores obtained from each of the major sections of this
report. The assessed factors and their relative weights (as indicated through
%) are as follows:
Financial
condition (40%) Ownership
background (20%) Payment
record (10%)
Credit history
(10%) Market trend
(10%) Operational
size (10%)
This report is issued at your request without any
risk and responsibility on the part of MIRA INFORM PRIVATE LIMITED (MIPL)
or its officials.