Fenix Buys Lusix in $4m Deal
October 31, 24
(IDEX Online) - Lusix, the Israeli lab grown company, will be sold to Belgian Fenix Diamonds for $4m, after Japanese company EDP pulled out of a $2.5m deal.
A court ruled in favor of Fenix (owned by the Indian Parikh family) over a same-price bid by India-based PD Holdings.
The critical difference was that Fenix agreed to retain some of Lusix's staff as part its offer - 13 employees for at least a year and 10 for at least three months.
Lusix, founded by Israeli billionaire Benny Landa, developed cutting edge technology and attracted more than $152m of investment in eight years.
But it could not compete with cheap labor and government subsidies in India. It said the market had become flooded and the wholesale price of rough lab growns had plunged by more than 90 per cent in the last two years.
Lusix sought court protection from creditors in August after closing its factory in Modi'in, central Israel, and putting 60 of its 90 staff on unpaid leave.
Earlier this month a sale was announced to Japanese investor and researcher Naoji Fujimori, owner of EDP, which produces the seeds for lab-grown production. But he pulled out, citing concerns over Israel's ongoing war.
Pic courtesy Lusix.