At current prices, the
By Russ Lynch
deal would be worth
about $45 million
Star-Bulletin
Stephen M. Case, the Hawaii-born chairman of America Online Inc., has agreed to buy 41.2 percent of the shares of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., the company said today.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the stock will be purchased from foundations handling the estate of the late Harry Weinberg.
ML&P, a land-holding company that owns Kapalua Land Co. and other properties as well as its pineapple business on Maui, said a meeting of shareholders will be called later to vote on the transaction.
Shareholder approval is required under the Hawaii Control Share Acquisition Act.
The price was not disclosed. At the company's recent price of about $15 a share, the transaction would be worth about $45 million.
Company officials said Case advised them he wants the shares as a long-term investment.
ML&P is a thinly traded stock listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol MLP. It closed today at $15.19.
Case, a son of prominent Honolulu attorney Daniel Case, was a computer dabbler in his youth.
In 1983, the Punahou Schools graduate joined a company called Control Video, which became Quantum Computer Service inc. in 1985 and was turned in America Online in 1991. In 1992, Case became chief executive officer of AOL and he has since made a personal fortune from AOL stock.
The sellers of the ML&P stock are the Harry Weinberg Family Foundation Inc., the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc. and 300 Corporation.
