Interesting article on old Baghdad Iraq money behind Colt for the last 25 years. Never knew!!
In 1994 Colt's Manufacturing Company was purchased by Zilkha & Company of New York City for $12 million. Donald Zilkha, then 42, was and remains company president. Three years after buying Colt, he unsuccessfully tried to buy FN Herstal, as mentioned above, for $82 million. It would have given him control of Winchester, Browning, and Colt.
Where did this young guy get that kind of money? He was born right. He is the son of Azouri "Ezra" Zilkha, "a scion of a Babylonian Jewish banking family," according to a 2001 article in Traders Magazine. The New York Times in 1999 described the Zilkha family as "one of Iraq's richest banking dynasties." The family left Iraq after the Second World War and successfully reestablished itself in the U.S.
The family patriarch, Khedouri (or Khadouri) Zilkha (1884-1956), launched banks throughout the Middle East. His son Ezra, now 82, self-published his memoir in the 1999 book From Baghdad to Boardrooms: My Family's Odyssey. It's available in some used bookstores.