Koor Industries and Starwood will hold 75% and 25% respectively of the Moria Hotels. The two groups will jointly invest, at this stage, $76 million, but the Workers' Investment Company has been given the option to sell the balance of its holding to the buyers for an additional sum of $5.5 million dollars. Starwood will manage the properties.

Juergen Bartels, CEO -- Hotel Group of Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. said that the company has decided to acquire ownership of hotels in Israel due to the vast potential of the hotel industry -- towards the year 2000. He emphasized that the strategic alliance between Koor Industries and Starwood signified a commitment of the group to increase its presence in the Israeli market.

Juergen Bartels praised the new management of Koor Industries -- headed by Mr. Jonathan Kolber -- for its decision to continue the group's investments in the Israeli hotel industry, jointly with Starwood. Bartels added that the Starwood management trusts that the peace process will continue to evolve thus benefiting the tourism industries of both Israel and the region.

Jonathan Kolber, President and CEO of Koor Industries, said that the decision to acquire the Moria Hotels constitutes a vote of confidence on the part of both Koor Industries and Starwood Sheraton in Israel's great tourism potential, adding that he believed the tourism industry would emerge from its current crisis into a period of growth and prosperity.

He said that winning the tender would place Koor and Starwood only one step away from becoming one of the most dominant hotel chains in Israel and the only international group ever to invest in Israeli assets rather than in management agreements.

The Moria chain of hotels currently owns 5 hotels: Moria Plaza Jerusalem (292 rooms), Moria Plaza Dead Sea (215 rooms), Moria Plaza Eilat (306 rooms), Moria Plaza Tel Aviv (265 rooms) and Moria Plaza Tiberious (265 rooms). Koor Industries will integrate Moria hotel operations with its own.

Jointly owned by Koor Tourism and Sheraton International, Sheraton Israel is the country's leading hotel management company. It holds 50% ownership in and will manage the prestigious Herods Sheraton Resort, to open shortly in Eilat. It also manages the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem, the Sheraton City Tower -- a business complex under construction adjacent to the Israeli Diamond Exchange, located in the greater Tel Aviv commercial area -- and the Sheraton Sea Village in Hadera. In addition, the company manages the Four Points hotel in Eilat (2 hotels), Jerusalem and Tiberias.

Starwood is the owner of some of the world's leading brands of hotels: Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, Four Points, W and Caesars. The group has a total of 650 hotels in 70 countries with an annual turnover of about $6.5 billion and employs over than 125,000 people worldwide.