Marriott Will Amend Debt Spinoff Plan : Offer: But some bondholders, angered by the proposal to split the company, say they will press ahead with lawsuits.

Marriott Corp. will amend its controversial plan to split itself into debt-laden and profitable halves, in response to bondholders angered by the proposal, according to a published report.

The settlement offer will be made to all bondholders. But representatives of groups not involved in the negotiations said Sunday that they plan to press ahead with lawsuits against Marriott.

The company’s amendments would strengthen the weaker of the two proposed units by shifting about $700 million in debt to the other under a plan the company is expected to make public this week, the Washington Post reported.

Marriott will also offer bondholders higher interest rates in exchange for four more years to pay off its debts. The settlement with three major institutional bondholders was reached Thursday, the Post reported Saturday.

Representatives to these bondholders could not immediately be reached for comment. A Marriott spokesman also could not be reached.

The three bondholders have threatened to sue, but so far have not. Two other groups of Marriott bondholders have suits pending in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Edward Whiting, a vice president at Whitman Heffernan Rhein & Co., a financial adviser to one of the groups that has sued, said Sunday that the settlement doesn’t go far enough.

“We certainly will give the proposal a fair hearing, but from everything I’ve heard at this point there’s no way we should accept this,” he said.