Diamond.com Parent Company Aiming For $45 Million IPO

Odimo’s IPO, first announced July last year, might finally be on its way. After reporting growing sales and losses, the company that owns luxury goods web sites Diamond.com, Ashford.com and WorldOfWatches.com, is hoping to raise about $45 million. Odimo is owned by Israeli brothers Beny and Daniel Steinmetz.

The $45 million goal is far less than the $57.5 million the company reportedly sought to raise in July. At the time, the company reported a loss of $14.1 million on sales of $10.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2004. For the comparable period of 2003, it lost $2.8 million on sales of $7.6 million.

Odimo’s January-September income totaled $30.7 million, a 31 percent rise over the same period the year before, but it posted losses of $10.6 million. Its total cumulative losses are estimated at $67 million.

Principal stockholders are brothers Beny and Daniel Steinmetz and Nir Livnat. Other major investors include Softbank Capital Partners, GSI Commerce Solutions and a group comprised of Neeraj Gupta, Sachin Gupta and the Aamba Ma Family Trust.

Odimo plans to use $9.3 million of the proceeds from the IPO to repay its debts. The remainder will be used for general corporate purposes, including acquisition of inventory, upgrades of its websites and marketing activities.