Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, June 22, 1998
Castle & Cooke to pay $19 a share for stock
Castle & Cooke Inc.'s will pay $19 a share for three million of its own shares, as a result of its "Dutch auction" offer which ended at midnight Friday.The company had said it would buy up to three million shares for between $17.75 and $19.50 a share, with the exact price to be determined according to the prices asked by shareholders. The "Dutch auction" was a reverse tender offer in which shareholders were asked to submit bids according to how much they would accept for their shares, within a preset price range.
Those who tendered their shares for more than $19 each will get the stock back, Los Angeles-based Castle & Cooke said today. The $57 million purchase brings in about 15 percent of the company's outstanding common stock.
Castle & Cooke develops residential real estate in Hawaii, housing and commercial properties on the mainland and resorts on Lanai.
Tobacco company wins reversal of verdict
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Brown & Willamson Tobacco Corp. won a reversal of a jury verdict against the company that awarded $750,000 to a former smoker.The 1996 award against the unit of B.A.T Industries Plc was the first of only two standing verdicts in which a tobacco company was ordered to pay damages to a smoker in a lawsuit seeking damages from smoking traditional cigarettes. A Florida appeals court struck down the verdict won by Grady Carter, a court official told Bloomberg News. That verdict spurred the industry to settlement talks and the current debate in Congress on greater regulation.
Yen weakens again as meeting produces little
TOKYO -- The U.S. dollar shot up more than 2 yen today after Japan failed to offer concrete plans to save its banks and revive its economy at a weekend finance meeting.The dollar bought 138.16 yen in late afternoon, up 2.06 yen from late Friday in Tokyo and also above its late New York rate of 136.10 yen on Friday. The dollar rose as high as 138.70 yen at one point today.
Last week, U.S. and Japanese central banks intervened to prop up the yen. Finance officials from around the world met in Tokyo Saturday and urged Japan to stimulate its economy and clean up its bad loan problem. But traders were disappointed that Japan unveiled no new measures.
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