$12 mil is top bid on
Koolau Golf Course

The low offers mean the
troubled course may go back
on the auction block next month

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

A Delaware company headed by a wealthy Hong Kong family is offering to buy the scenic Koolau Golf Course for $12 million, or less than 15 percent of the golf course's original construction costs.

CCL Holdings (USA) Ltd. submitted the high offer in the sealed-bid foreclosure auction, whose results were announced yesterday afternoon.

The company outbid three prospective buyers for the financially troubled course, which has been the subject of foreclosure proceedings by lender Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan Ltd.

CCL's bid is subject to a confirmation hearing on Nov. 6.

The disappointing auction results could mean that the 250-acre golf course will go back on the auction block next month. Some real estate experts estimated the golf course's value at around $20 million -- which is well above CCL's $12 million offer.

Steve Dome, senior vice president of Kennedy-Wilson International, which is marketing the golf course, said that bidding for the golf course likely will be reopened at the Nov. 6 hearing.

Under foreclosure proceedings, prospective buyers can reopen the bidding by offering at least $12.6 million for the golf course at the confirmation hearing.

"I think this may be just the opening volley," said Bob Hastings, president of the local real estate appraisal firm of Hastings Conboy Braig & Associates.

Completed in 1991, the Koolau Golf Course was built by Minami Group USA at a cost of more than $82 million. Minami, headed by Japanese electronics magnate Masao Nangaku, acquired the raw land to build the course back in June 1987 for $9.9 million from Iolani School.

In November 1994, Long-Term filed a foreclosure suit against Minami, alleging that the development company owed more than $40 million. At the time, Minami had owed additional debts to Hazama Corp., a Japan-based construction company.

The buyer, CCL Holdings, is an investment arm of Hong Kong's Chang family, whose businesses include shipping and development interests.

A sister company, CCL Development, recently acquired 37 oceanfront residential lots in Rancho Palos Verdes in Southern California for $9 million from Haseko Townhomes Inc. The company also is developing residential projects in Monarch Beach, Calif., Newport Coast, Calif. and Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., according to news reports.