The publishers of Hebrew dailies "Ma'ariv", Ofer Nimrodi, and "Haaretz", Amos Schocken, are going for another round. Sources inform ''Globes'' that two weeks ago, Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV) filed a complaint with the Israel Securities Authority against "Haaretz" executives, including Schocken and "TheMarker" editor in chief Guy Rolnik, accusing them of slander and bias in articles. Maariv Holdings claims that these articles aimed to frustrate a planned offering by the company and to undermine its TASE-listed bond.
Ma'ariv Holdings claims that, two weeks ago, "TheMarker", "Haaretz's" business supplement, published an article entitled "With a junk bond yield of 33%, Nimrodi plans to raise capital for Ma'ariv".
Ma'ariv Holdings claims that this article, its content, and headline raises suspicion of "an illegal and serious attempt by the editor of Haaretz and certain of its owners, managers, and editors of the paper and of TheMarker to exploit a sensitive situation in which Ma'ariv finds itself on the eve of holding another offering of securities, to persuade the underwriters to refrain from carrying out the underwriting, and to persuade investors from buying the securities that will be offered in the issue, by presenting misleading facts and forecasts, and ignoring material facts."
Ma'ariv Holdings further claims that Haaretz Group executives plan to rely on "Ma'ariv" readers, who they hope will switch to reading "Haaretz" after the collapse of "Ma'ariv", as well as to help freesheet "Israel Today" win some "Ma'ariv" readers.
The complaint cites reports that "Israel Today", owned by Sheldon Adelson, is injecting NIS 60-100 million a year into Haaretz Group to print and distribute the freesheet. Ma'ariv Holdings claims that this money has enabled Haaretz Group to reduce its bank debt.
Schocken said in response, "This attempt to link articles in Haaretz and TheMarker to business competition is groundless. Our newspapers' news staff are completely free of any such considerations."
The Securities Authority confirmed that it has received Maariv Holdings' complaint, and said that the issue would be examined.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 13, 2010
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