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Cendant to acquire bankrupt Budget
NEW YORK >> Cendant Corp., the owner of Avis Group Holdings, agreed yesterday to buy most of bankrupt Budget Group Inc. for $107.5 million, a deal that creates the nation's second-largest car rental company.Cendant, which will assume $2.7 billion in debt as part of the deal, said it will operate the leisure-oriented Budget as a separate brand from Avis, which caters largely to business travelers.
"Beyond the clear cost efficiencies of combining overhead and administrative functions of Avis and Budget, adding the Budget brand to our travel mix will allow us to reach value-conscious travelers more effectively," Cendant chairman and chief executive Henry Silverman said.
Privately held Enterprise Rent-a-Car Co. is the country's largest rental car company.
Cendant's other travel-related holdings include hotel brands like Days Inn and Ramada, discount airfare seller CheapTickets, the airline ticket distribution system Galileo and franchise real estate brokerages, including Century 21.
Akamai may seek $100M in damages
Akamai Technologies said yesterday night it may seek more than $100 million in damages after winning a patent infringement lawsuit against Cable & Wireless, the London-based global telecommunications giant.U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel issued a permanent injunction enforcing a jury's ruling last December that a Cable & Wireless Net content delivery system infringes on a patent held by Akamai.
Zobel's order states that Cable & Wireless Internet Services, which owns the Exodus Digital Island 2.0 service, is "permanently enjoined and prohibited from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing in to the United States" services that use the patented Akamai technology. It was not immediately clear how soon Cable & Wireless would have to shut down or change the Digital Island service.
Digital Island was founded in Hawaii, moved to California, and was purchased in 2001 by Cable & Wireless.
Fastow family account frozen by judge
Houston >> A federal judge froze an account controlled by family members of former Enron Corp. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow after a relative tried to withdraw millions of dollars, people familiar with the case said.U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley in Houston signed an order yesterday to freeze the account to prevent Fastow's brother Peter or other family members from moving the money, the people said. The government sought to protect the account while it attempts to seize assets it contends are traceable to fraud that led to the energy company's collapse, the people said.
The court's order freezing the assets was issued a day after the U.S. Justice Department announced it's seeking to seize $23 million from bank accounts of Andrew Fastow, his brother and other Enron employees. Prosecutors sought the order in closed proceedings yesterday, they said.
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[Hawaii Inc.]
PROMOTIONS
>> Ernst & Young has admitted Terri Fujii to the firm's partnership. Based in the firm's Honolulu office, he is a member of Ernst & Young's assurance and advisory business services practice. Fujii has more than 16 years of experience with the firm.>> Wenda Araki and Linda Fernandez were promoted to assistant vice presidents by First Insurance Co. Araki will be responsible for customer service, auxiliary and underwriting support. She has more than 22 years of experience with the company. Fernandez will have primary responsibility for agency management. She has more than a decade of experience with First Insurance.
>> American Savings Bank has promoted Danell Kanae to operations manager of its Kahului Wal-Mart Branch. She has more than 15 years of banking experience, most recently as an assistant operations manager for American Savings' Wailuku Sack-N-Save Branch.
Kanae will be responsible for overseeing daily operations as well as business development in the surrounding area.
NEW JOBS
>> Kuakini Health System has named Clayton Tamashiro manager of its human resources department. He will oversee its daily operations, as well as assist departments in addressing issues relating to the challenges facing the health care industry's work force.>> Maui Ocean Center has hired Tapani Vuori as merchandise director. He will oversee daily operations of the Maui Ocean Center Store. Most recently, Vuori started the Moomin Shop in Honolulu -- a retail store dedicated to the cartoon show, "Moomin" -- and launched the moominshop.com e-commerce site.