Blenheim Properties Group Ltd. owner Igal Ahouvi denies that he signed an agreement with Habas chairman Herzl Habas to buy back the 3% stake that Habas HZ Investments Ltd. (TASE: HABS) owns in the Blenheim-led acquisition of 16 Hilton hotels in the UK. Habas claims that Ahouvi agreed to buy the stake for ₤3.1 million. The denial appears in Blenheim's statement of defense filed with the Tel Aviv District Court.
Ahouvi said that there is no such agreement and his inclusion in Habas's statement of claim to enforce the agreement. Ahouvi said that his inclusion was based on improper tactical calculations and lacked any grounds for cause.
Ahouvi said that the statement of claim was "a cynical informal attempt by the company to help the claimant exercise its wish to sell its holding in the venture, a wish that is not backed with a binding agreement."
Habas claims that Ahouvi sent it a signed letter in which he promised to buy Habas's holding in the Hilton deal under terms to be determined by the parties. Habas added that, after sending the letter of commitment, Ahouvi activated a right of first refusal clause in the agreement between the venture's partners, and offered the other partners in the venture to share in the purchase of Habas's stake. Habas alleges that it subsequently learned that Ahouvi was denying the existence of the agreement to buy the stake.
In the statement of defense, Ahouvi claims that Habas was well aware that he does not personally act as a buyer, and that his involvement, as admitted in the statement of claim, was as the organizer of the consortium of buyers. "Under these circumstances, the claims made by the claimant with regard to Ahouvi's personal contractual obligations are an improper tactical ploy to apply personal pressure, and are, regrettably, an attempt to take things out of context."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 10, 2008
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