U.K. investors take
Hawaiian Air stake

A Cayman Islands fund
now has 12% of the airline

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Nearly one-eighth of the common stock of Hawaiian Airlines Inc. is now in the hands of a Cayman Islands fund controlled by two British citizens, according to a filing at the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Hawaiian is aware of the transaction, which represents one passive investor transferring to another, said a spokesman, Keoni Wagner.

The transaction does mean, however, that a block of 4.7 million shares, or 12.1 percent of Hawaiian's common stock, has shifted from U.S. control to foreign control. That is still well short of the federal 25 percent limit on foreign ownership of a U.S. airline.

The SEC documents show that a New York investment house, Pax Clearing Co. LP, transferred the shares to one of its limited partners who was withdrawing from the partnership.

The stock is now held by Amber Arbitrage LDC, based in the Cayman Islands, which in turn is controlled by a company in the British Virgin Islands, Lismore Management Ltd. Lismore is controlled by two British citizens who live in the British Virgin Islands.

The SEC filings indicate that Amber Arbitrage has sole voting and disposal control over the stock, there is no intent to do anything with it other than hold it for investment.

The biggest part of Hawaiian's stock, 44.7 percent, is owned by Airline Investors Partnership, which put money into the airline at the end of 1995 and holds the majority of seats on Hawaiian's board of directors.