Burlington said it will consider a takeover offer.

Greensboro, N.C.-based Burlington Industries said it will evaluate the investor group’s $1.5-billion takeover offer, but the textile giant signaled its opposition to the bid by suing the group for $500 million. The group is led by New York investor Asher B. Edelman and Montreal-based Dominion Textile Inc., Canada’s largest textile concern. Burlington’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, names the investor group, the investment firm Paine Webber and a former Burlington executive, James J. Ammeen. The suit alleges, among other things, that Ammeen provided Paine Webber with confidential financial information about Burlington that Paine Webber then gave to the Edelman-Dominion group.