Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, May 1, 1998
TCI hooks up Hawaii Kai with fiber optic cable TV
TCI Communications Inc., a cable television company that serves 9,000 customers in Hawaii Kai, said it is moving to fiber-optic cables and by the time the system is in place this summer TCI will offer a total of 106 channels.To begin with, TCI said it will offer an extended free previews of new channels, including Bravo, MSNBC, Home and Garden TV, Sci-Fi and Turner Classic Movies.
TCI said its plan to sell its Hawaii Kai, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kau, Big Island, operations to Time Warner Inc., announced in March, will further boost access for its customers and bring them new services such as Time Warner's RoadRunner Internet service.
Bank of Hawaii finalizes Australian investment
Bank of Hawaii has finalized a $20 million investment in an Australian bank, the Bank of Queensland, and said it is moving forward with plans to cooperate with the Brisbane-based bank.Bank of Hawaii, the biggest subsidiary of Pacific Century Financial Corp., said the deal, first announced in November, was wrapped up after the banks got final regulatory approval Tuesday. The investment is in the form of Bank of Queensland notes purchased by Bank of Hawaii. The Australian bank has 95 branches and assets of U.S.$1.75 billion.
State orders a stop to sales of oil securities
The State of Hawaii has told representatives of an Oklahoma oil and gas exploration business to stop peddling unregistered securities in the form of investment interests in a drilling venture.Ryan Ushijima, state securities commissioner, issued a preliminary cease and desist order against Tony Stark and Tim Dias, representatives of Petro Resources Corp., Petro Resources Inc. and Intro Technology Services Inc. They have a right to a hearing, said Ushijima, who also fined them $10,000.
Stark and Dias could not be reached for comment on the state's action.
Maui Land & Pineapple now trading on Amex
Shares of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. began trading on the American Stock Exchange for the first time today, under the symbol MLP.The company, which has agricultural, resort and commercial property operations on Maui, was previously traded over the counter. The company yesterday put into effect a four-for-one stock split.
The shares began trading on the Amex with a 100-share purchase at $14.75 a share and closed at $16.12-1/2.
Oahu refinery's buyer plans Wash. acquisition
SAN ANTONIO -- Tesoro Petroleum Corp. said today it plans to buy a Shell Oil Co. refinery with operations near Anacortes, Wash., for more than $237 million.Tesoro said Shell Anacortes Refining Co. operates a 108,000-barrel-a-day refinery and generated about $40 million to $50 million in annual cash flow over the last four years.
Tesoro Petroleum expects the purchase, combined with a recent agreement to buy the Broken Hill Propriety Co. refinery on Oahu, to add to 1999 earnings and cash flow. Tesoro is also buying BHP's Gas Express retail operations in Hawaii. The effect on 1998 earnings will probably be neutral, Tesoro said of the deals.
Disney buying rest of 'Net publisher Starwave
BURBANK, Calif. -- Walt Disney Co. bought the remaining two-third stake in billionaire Paul Allen's Starwave Corp. that it didn't already own, as it seeks to bolster its Internet offerings.
Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.
The move comes just a year after Burbank, Calif.-based Disney's initial investment in the Internet site designer, a one-third stake estimated at about $90 million. Allen, co-
founder of Microsoft Corp., had been the largest shareholder, and employees also owned some shares.
The move also comes a day after Disney Chairman Michael Eisner told a group of business journalists that the company plans to link its existing Internet sites amid an expected convergence of television and computers.
In other news . . .
NEW YORK -- Half of the patients picking up prescriptions for the impotence-treatment drug Viagra are being reimbursed by insurers, according to an industry study. According to estimates this week by private industry researcher IMS America, 51 percent of the 113,134 people who picked up new prescriptions for Viagra in the week ended April 17 were repaid by their health insurer.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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