Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, June 26, 1998
State's small biz group seeks board nominees
The soon-to-be-formed state Small Business Regulatory Review Board is seeking candidates for its 11-member board.Gov. Ben Cayetano yesterday said he is seeking local entrepreneurs and small business as nominees for the board, whose mission is to review petitions from business owners seeking to improve Hawaii's regulatory climate.
Membership to the board is voluntary and all candidates must be an officer or a current or former owner of a local business with 200 or less employees. Cayetano will appoint board members from the candidates that apply.
The deadline for submission of candidates is July 17. For more information, call 586-2594.
Watergate hotel sold to Blackstone Group
WASHINGTON -- The Watergate Hotel has been sold to the investment bank Blackstone Group.Nikko Securities Inc. is expected to complete the sale of the hotel, where rooms rent for an average of $206 a night, in the next 60 days, a hotel spokeswoman said. The terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.
Overlooking the Potomac River, the hotel has more than 200 rooms and suites. It's part of the six-building Watergate office and residential complex. The complex played a role in the resignation of President Richard Nixon after a break-in at the Democratic party's headquarters there in 1972.
Swissotel, in which Blackstone owns a 25 percent stake, will take over management of the hotel, which will be renamed Swissotel Washington-The Watergate.
Amex members vote for merger with Nasdaq
NEW YORK -- Members of the American Stock Exchange overwhelmingly endorsed the exchange's sale to the National Association of Securities Dealers, paving the way for a more powerful competitor to the New York Stock Exchange.The merger with the parent of the Nasdaq Stock Market was approved by a 75 percent margin, with 622 votes in favor and 206 opposed. A two-thirds majority was required and 96 percent of members voted.
The transaction brings together the Nasdaq, the nation's second-largest stock market, in which dealers trade over the phone and via computer, and the Amex, the No. 3 stock market, where traders buy and sell face to face in auctions. The Amex is also the No. 2 U.S. options market.
The transaction must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Closing is expected at the end of September, an Amex spokesman said.
Major Japanese banks consider megamerger
TOKYO -- Sumitomo Trust and Banking Corp. is considering a merger with the debt-plagued Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan that would probably leave the latter bank's huge bad loan portfolio to a public bailout.Sour bank loans have been blamed as a major cause for Japan's deepest recession in 50 years, and the merger is a crucial first test of the government's resolve to clean up Japanese banks' 76 trillion yen ($550 billion) in bad debt.
The deal would help Sumitomo Trust and Long-Term Credit contend with increased foreign competition in the wake of Japan's "big bang" deregulation. The combined bank would be the second-largest in Japan after Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.
Sumitomo Trust President Atsushi Takahashi said the bank wants a deal within one year.
Long-Term Credit Bank is saddled with more than 1.4 trillion yen ($10 billion) in bad loans.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Search] [Info] section for subscription information.