Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, August 4, 1998
Starwood pays $132 mil for Westin Maui resort
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. paid $132 million cash for the 760-room Westin Maui Hotel at Kaanapali Beach, the company disclosed today.The Phoenix-based company, which owns the Sheraton and Westin hotel companies, said it will spend another $20 million to complete a renovation project that was already under way at the hotel. The purchase price was not disclosed when Starwood announced last month that it was buying the Maui property from Kaukani (Maui) Corp. The Japan-based company paid $290 million for the property in 1990.
The hotel was opened in 1987 by developer Chris Hemmeter, who paid $95 million for an old hotel on the site and spent $120 million to improve it.
Isle cruise line's parent records 33% rise in net
Chicago-based American Classic Voyages Co., parent of American Hawaii Cruises and Delta Queen Steamboat Co., today reported a 33 percent rise in second-quarter profits and a 26 percent rise in revenues compared with the 1997 quarter.The company earned $1.6 million, or 11 cents a share, in the three months ending June 30, compared with a profit of $1.2 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Second-quarter revenues rose to $53.5 million from $42.4 million. Its Hawaii operation, which runs round-the-islands cruises aboard the S.S. Independence and is looking for other vessels for Hawaii, is 97 percent booked for 1998, the company said.
Retail sales by check turn positive in Hawaii
Retail sales by check rose 2.9 percent in Hawaii last month but that rate failed to keep pace with a nationwide increase of 4 percent, according to the check-clearing firm TeleCheck Services Inc.It was the first month since February that the Houston-based company recorded a gain for Hawaii.
TeleCheck, a unit of First Data Corp., compiles an index based on a year-over-year, same-store comparison of the dollar volume of checks written by consumers at more than 27,000 locations nationwide, including about 500 merchants in Hawaii.
The firm said strong midsummer sales combined with a high level of consumer confidence in the economy may result in moderate to strong back-to-school spending.
Closed Wahiawa business to auction off inventory
More than $250,000 in inventory and equipment at Howard Building Center in Wahiawa will be auctioned off Saturday as the 17-year-old retail firm vacates its property. The business was closed last year due to declining sales.The auction, by Joe Teipel of Auctions Unlimited, will begin at 10 a.m. at the property at 1001 California Ave. Items for sale will be on view from noon to 6 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. Saturday.
Fiber-optic cable to link Japan, Oahu, California
SAN FRANCISCO -- AT&T Corp., British Telecom Plc, Japan Telecom Co. and other telecommunications companies signed an agreement to build a $1 billion undersea fiber-optic cable between the United States and Japan.The cable will connect from Ibaraki, Shima and Maruyama in Japan to Kahe Point on Oahu to San Luis Obispo and Point Arena in California, the companies said.
The 13,000-mile link, called Japan-U.S. Cable Network, was first announced in May. It will be completed by the middle of 2000, Bloomberg News reported. After a planned expansion, it would be the highest-capacity cable in the region, able to handle the equivalent of 7.74 million simultaneous voice calls, the companies said.
Matson spends $10.4 mil for cooler ship containers
Matson Navigation Co. said it is spending $10.4 million to add 370 new 40-foot-high containers equipped with Thermo-King units that use a "ozone-friendly" refrigerant. The company said the new units improve refrigeration and the ability to handle perishables on its ships. The $10.4 million is part of $37 million in new container equipment purchases during 1997-98, Matson said.
In other news . . .
MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- AlliedSignal Inc., a maker of aerospace and automotive parts, made an unsolicited bid to buy AMP Inc. for $44.50 a share, or $9.8 billion, after the world's top maker of electronic connectors declined to enter negotiations.
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