Consortium buys assets of Alpha Omega Jewelers

A US bankruptcy court judge in Boston this morning approved the sale of the assets of Alpha Omega Jewelers to a consortium of investment partners.

With debt of about $30 million, the company filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month after owner Raman Handa unexpectedly left the country, prompting the company's bank, the LaSalle Business Credit arm of Bank of America Corp., to seize Alpha Omega assets and temporarily close its stores just before Christmas.

The consortium of investors is made up of Tiger Capital Group LLC of Boston; SB Capital Group of Great Neck, N.Y.; and the Gordon Co. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The consortium planned to sell off the company's inventory and find other parties to assume the leases at four Alpha Omega stores in the Boston area, a spokesman for the consortium said.

Upon successful completion of the liquidation sale, Alpha Omega stores at the Natick Collection shopping mall and at Prudential Center will be completely re-merchandised and will be re-opened as part of the Rhode Island-based Ross-Simons jewelry chain, the consortium said in a statement today.
(By Robert Weisman and Chris Reidy, Globe staff)