Business Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff
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FAST FACTS HAWAII
Friday's went out on a Wednesday
The Waikiki T.G.I. Friday's restaurant closed after service last night, nine days after the closing of Hawaii's first T.G.I. Friday's, at Ward Avenue, June 11.
Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, parent company of franchisor Friday's, had said earlier that the Waikiki restaurant would close tomorrow night.
Amy Freshwater, Carlson's vice president of communications and public relations, attributed the change to a misunderstanding with franchisee Joe Khoury of Wesco Restaurant Group of Hawaii Inc.
McClain Auctions has been retained to sell furniture, fixtures and other items from the Ward Avenue restaurant on Saturday morning at the Ward site. Inspection of items for sale begins at 8 a.m.
UH to train Vietnamese bankers
The University of Hawaii's Shidler College of Business and Vietnam's largest bank has signed a training agreement as part of a $4 billion package of business partnerships entered into between the two countries.
As part of the agreement, which is expected to span many years, Shidler College will provide training to the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in the areas of human resource development, international payment, credit card management, treasury activities, investment management and modern banking practices.
Shidler is expected to form a long-term partnership with VBARD. The school also plans to expand its Vietnam-based AACSB accredited MBA program to include Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the Fall.
VBARD, established in 1988, is the largest state-owned commercial bank in Vietnam. VBARD has $2.7 billion in assets, 5 million clients and over 30,000 employees.
Hospitality Advisors ranks nationally
The Honolulu-based hospitality, tourism, and real estate consulting firm
Hospitality Advisors LLC has been ranked as the 16th largest independent hotel consultancy in the nation, according to the hotel industry trade publication
Hotel & Motel Management.
Hospitality Advisors, which generated approximately $1 million in consulting revenues during 2006, provides strategic planning and research for such clients as Starwood Capital, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Halekulani Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels Corporation, HOST Hotels & Resorts, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, ResortQuest Hawaii, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Goldman Sachs, Westbrook Partners, Rockpoint Group and MSD Capital.
Hospitality Advisors, which has an alliance with Smith Travel Research, publishes the monthly Hawaii Hotel Flash Report, which is the State's largest hotel survey and has been adopted by the State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism as the official hotel statistics for Hawaii.
A&B gets new analyst coverage
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. was rated "market perform" in new coverage by analyst Sheila McGrath of
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
McGrath, who previously covered A&B for Ryan Beck & Co., issued a 12-month price target of $59.
The coverage of A&B is new for KBW, which wanted to expand its real estate coverage.
BUSINESS PULSE