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Central Pacific
Star-Bulletin staff
Bank parent buying
back shares
CPB Inc., the parent of Central Pacific Bank, is embarking on another stock repurchase program, its fourth buy-back since 1998.
The company said yesterday that its board of directors on Monday voted to have CPB buy about 435,000 of its shares, or 5 percent of the 9.2 million common shares outstanding. In the past two years, CPB has purchased 13.4 percent of its stock, a total of 1.4 million shares. Companies generally use buy-backs when they feel their shares are undervalued.
Joichi Saito, board chairman and chief executive officer, said the repurchase program has improved the company's capital and enhanced value for shareholders.
The stock, traded on the Nasdaq stock market, rose $1.62 1/2, or 6.6 percent, to close at $26 today.
Its 52-week high was $29.12 1/2 on Dec. 30 and its 52-week low was $17.50 on March 15 last year.
CPB Inc. has $1.6 billion in assets and Central Pacific Bank, Hawaii's third-largest commercial bank, has 26 branches, seven of them in supermarkets.
