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Odimo.com to Form Worldwide Joint Ventures
Mar 30, 2000 3:07 PM
By Shaun Gatter
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Odimo.com to Form Worldwide Joint Ventures
(Rapaport…March 30, 2000) Odimo.com, a premiere source of certificated diamonds, fine jewelry and brand name watches on the Internet, will team with global expansion partner SOFTBANK International Ventures to form a series of joint ventures that will establish Odimo operations worldwide. The agreement with SOFTBANK gives Odimo access to the European @viso joint venture between SOFTBANK and Vivendi and the UK based eVentures joint venture between SOFTBANK and epartners. Odimo is also entering into agreements with SOFTBANK CORP., to form joint ventures in Japan and, through eVentures, in Australia, New Zealand and India. Agreements for expansion into Latin America and the rest of Asia will be negotiated at a later date.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Odimo joint ventures in Europe, the UK and Japan will receive $90 million in the first two years. SOFTBANK and its affiliates will provide an additional $35 million to joint venture operations in other markets worldwide. In February 2000, SOFTBANK Capital Partners invested $31 million in Odimo in a private placement.
Odimo is owned by The Steinmetz Diamond Group, an international diamond trading group, and is positioned to offer its customers the world's largest in-house selection of certificated diamonds, fine jewelry and brand name watches. The Group has offices around the world with its main diamond cutting factory in South Africa. The Group was entrusted by DeBeers to craft, cut and polish both the Millennium Star, a priceless 203 carat flawless diamond and the Midnight Collection, the largest and rarest collection of blue diamonds, currently exhibited in the Millennium Dome in London.
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Tags:
Australia, Flawless Diamond, India, Japan, Jewelry, South Africa
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