Starwood has sued Azorim for alleged breach of contract.
"This is a vexatious lawsuit filed in bad faith," says Azorim Investment, Development and Construction Ltd. (TASE: AZRM) in response to the NIS 126 million lawsuit filed by Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE:HOT) allging breach of contract over the transfer of management of Sheraton hotels in Israel to it.
Azorim accuses Starwood of "making allegations about Azorim's financial situation in general and about Azorim's relations with Bank Hapoalim in particular" Azorim is also angry that news of the lawsuit was published in the media before the company had received the documents. It claims that Starwood is attempting to enforce an unwritten agreement.
Starwood says that Azorim's claim that threats from Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI; LSE:80OA) to call in a loan was merely a "pretext" for breaking the agreement for the management of Sheraton hotels. It should be noted that Azorim has not yet used NIS 600 million of the solo credit line that the bank extended to it.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 11, 2008
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