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A LEGACY IN TOURISM

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Ambassador L.W. "Bill" Lane and his wife, Jean, were honored with the "Legacy In Tourism" award Tuesday night at the fifth annual University of Hawaii Travel Industry Management fund-raising dinner and silent auction at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's Monarch Room. Bill Lane is former chairman and publisher of Lane Publishing Co., publisher of Sunset Magazine and Books. He served as U.S. ambassador to Australia and Nauru from 1985 to 1989 and prior to that as ambassador-at-large in Japan from 1975 to 1976. Jean Lane, who served on the board of trustees of the National Botanical Garden from 1977 to 1998, also was a member of the board of directors of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., from1991 to 2001.

Gretzinger buys Kauhi Center

The Gretzinger Corp., a Honolulu-based real estate investment company, has purchased a three-building warehouse complex in Campbell Industrial Park for $1.9 million.

Called the Kauhi Commercial Center, the complex at 91-226 Kauhi St. has 38,814 square feet of leasable space on two acres of land leased from the Estate of James Campbell. It is occupied by eight industrial tenants.

Formed in 1991, Gretzinger owns properties in California, Colorado, Texas, Maryland and Hawaii but said it has not bought in Hawaii for 12 years.

The Campbell property investment reflects the company's confidence in local economic recovery, said John D. Nielsen, Gretzinger principal and executive vice president.

CPB pledges $25,000 to Hale Kipa

Central Pacific Bank has pledged $25,000 to Hale Kipa Inc.

The nonprofit began a fund-raising campaign earlier this year to build a new core facility.

Founded in 1970, Hale Kipa provides shelter, outreach, therapeutic, residential and foster care services for youth at risk. It serves about 2,000 young people and their families each year.

Verizon Hawaii offers buyouts

Verizon Hawaii, which has trimmed hundreds of positions in the past decade in a new telecommunications era, has offered 550 managers and nonunion employees a voluntary separation package, representing nearly 28 percent of its 2,000 workers. The package includes separation pay ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, and a 5 percent increase in the lump sum retirement benefit.

Verizon, owned by New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., is one of Hawaii's largest employers.

United narrows monthly net loss

CHICAGO >> United Airlines narrowed its net loss in August and posted a $105 million operating profit in what its chief financial officer called a "very encouraging month" in its effort to get out of bankruptcy.

Despite the progress, the $46 million net loss put the carrier on track for a 13th consecutive quarterly deficit -- including three since it filed for Chapter 11 last December.

The nation's No. 2 airline had lost $112 million in July after being a whopping $1.96 billion in the red for the first half of 2003.

Excluding reorganization expenses, tied mainly to the rejection of costly airplane leases, United said its net income for August was $68 million. Benefiting from a busy summer of air travel industrywide, it boosted its cash balance for the month by $109 million to $2.4 billion -- a sharp improvement from the multimillion-dollar daily deficits of earlier this year.

Enron, citing collusion, sues investment banks

HOUSTON >> Enron Corp. is suing some of its investment banks, accusing them of colluding with company executives in shady deals that made millions for both the insiders and the banks before Enron's collapse.

Defendants in the lawsuit filed late yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York include banking titans J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., two of Enron's largest creditors.

The two banks in July paid nearly $300 million to settle regulatory allegations of helping the company defraud investors by setting up complex financial transactions that inflated profits and hid debt.

Also among defendants is Merrill Lynch & Co., which paid $80 million in March to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it helped Enron commit fraud.

Financial execs seek SEC review of NYSE

NEW YORK >> State treasurers and pension fund leaders urged the New York Stock Exchange to make sweeping changes in governance yesterday following a pay scandal that forced the resignation of chairman Dick Grasso last week.

At the top of the list was the overhaul of the NYSE's 27-member board to eliminate potential conflicts of interest and better represent the 85 million investors who hold stocks listed with the exchange, the world's richest market.

In other news ...

>> McDonald's Corp., the world's biggest hamburger chain, boosted its annual dividend by 70 percent, the largest gain in 25 years. The payout was raised to 40 cents a share from 23.5 cents. It is payable Dec. 1.