Baran Group (TASE: BRAN; Pink Sheets:BRANF) CEO Elhanan (Eli) Abramov today asked Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Benjamin Ben-Eliezer to reconsider giving Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) a $400 million grant to expand its Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat. Steinitz is due to meet Intel executives tomorrow to discuss the grant.
Baran and Intel have been locked in a legal dispute since September 2009, when Intel Israel sued Baran for NIS 100 million for alleged damage caused during construction work at the company's new R&D center in Haifa. A week later, Baran counter-sued Intel Israel Ltd. for NIS 43 million in compensation for construction work that Baran carried out at the Kiryat Gat fab.
In the letter to Steinitz and Ben-Eliezer, Abramov said that Intel Corporation was reneging on commitments to pay large amounts owed to Baran for work. "Intel's management reflects an absurd situation in which one hand of the company again asks the government for grants, and gets them, while the other hand holds up payment legally owed to an Israeli company," he said.
"We have no objection to Intel continuing to receive grants, but I believe that the State of Israel ought to consider, before reaching a decision, the conduct of a foreign company, however large it may be, toward Israeli companies and contractors who carried out work for it on projects."
No response has been available from Intel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 20, 2010
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