Leviev, Steinmetz Group Buys Top Floors of Diamond Tower

A group of diamond firms, led by Israeli diamond tycoons Lev Leviev and Beny Steinmetz, has acquired the 10 top floors of the Diamond Tower in Ramat Gan's diamond exchange area from businessman Tzadik Bino for $45 million.

The Diamond Tower is one of the four buildings of the diamond exchange, and this is believed to be the largest property deal ever conducted in the bourse.

Leviev reportedly bought four floors via his holding company, while Steinmetz bought two. The deal is for 11,000 square meters of office space and about 300 parking spaces, web site TheMarker reports today (Wednesday), citing sources close to the talks.

Former Diamond Exchange president Yitzhak Forem initiated the purchasing group, according to the sources.

The buyers intend to connect the 10 floors to the diamond exchange itself in order to benefit from the exchange’s security setup and easy access to offices within the exchange.

Sightholder Steinmetz mines and purchases rough diamonds from producers and sells them to polishers, but also polishes many stones, selling some directly to consumers through Diamond.com. Leviev also owns mining operations, polishes diamonds and is one of the world's largest diamond dealers.

The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) is currently negotiating the purchase of thousands of square meters in another building in a deal that is expected to be finalized shortly, according to the news site. In a recent interview with IDEX Online, IDE President Avi Paz said the purchase of the Diamond Tower’s top floors, contemplated while Shmuel Schnitzer was IDE President, is not being considered any more.

The IDE suffers from an acute shortage of office space which has driven up rents.

TheMarker cited a Steinmetz Group spokesman as confirming the company was interested in the Diamond Tower deal but saying it was not one of the purchasers, while Forem refused to comment.