Financier Ronald O. Perelman and companies that he controls are being sued for allegedly misleading bondholders about a planned financial restructuring of

Marvel Entertainment Group Inc, lawyers for the plaintiffs said yesterday.

Mr Perelman last month lost a battle against a bondholder group led by investor Carl Icahn for control of the bankrupt comic book publisher, whose characters include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and the X-Men.

The class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court in Alabama named Perelman and Mafco Holdings, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings and Andres Group as defendants, said the law firms of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Larach LLP and Donaldson &

Guin LLC.

The law firms said the complaint was filed on behalf of persons who bought or otherwise acquired certain bonds secured by the stock of Marvel from October 8

to November 12, 1996.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated securities laws by "making materially false and misleading misrepresentations and omissions about a contemplated financial restructuring of Marvel by Perelman and his companies,"

according to the law firms.