China's HNA says U.S lawsuit over failed deal 'baseless'

U.S. software engineering firm Ness Technologies has sued HNA, accusing it of failing to adequately answer questions about its ownership in a U.S. review of takeovers by foreign companies, thereby causing Pactera's $325 million deal to buy Ness's unit Jersey Holding Corp to fail.

The lawsuit by Ness is the latest case involving HNA, which has come under U.S. and European scrutiny after a $50 billion worldwide acquisition spree that included stakes in Deutsche Bank and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc .

"HNA Group believes this lawsuit is baseless and without merit, and we will vigorously defend against it," a spokeswoman at HNA Group said in an emailed statement to Reuters. It did not elaborate.

In the lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Ness alleged HNA had caused it financial harm by not using what it called "best efforts" to get regulatory approval for the takeover.

In a separate statement issued on Wednesday, Pactera said it had invested significant amounts of time, labor and costs in meeting U.S. regulatory requirements for foreign investments, and that despite its efforts, Ness chose to end the deal.

The U.S. regulator reviewing the investment had asked Pactera for supplementary information rather than dismissing a request to greenlight the transaction, Pactera said, without elaborating.

"Ness Technologies chose to terminate the contract in their own interests," Pactera said.

(Reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong, additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing in New York; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Mark Potter and Susan Thomas)