Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, April 10, 2000

Aquasearch uses Web to sell product

Aquasearch Inc. said today its new nutritional supplement, The AstaFactor, is on sale at its new Web site, www.astafactor.com.

The product comes in "softgel" capsules at $29.95 for a bottle of 60.

The Kona-based company's progress in getting the product, which is mostly natural astaxanthin, to market was one of the factors that caused Aquasearch stock to soar earlier this year.

Astaxanthin, used as a coloring agent in fish food, is also being promoted as an antioxidant diet supplement helpful to a number of human ailments.

Workshop to help companies export

Island businesses seeking to learn more about selling goods and services to foreign countries will be able to get answers at a May 3 workshop.

"The Basics of Exporting" is being organized by the Hawaii/Pacific District Export Council, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Oahu Economic Development Board and the Small Business Development Center Network.

The fee is $40 per person. For more information call 522-8040.

GTE plans to invest in networking unit

IRVING, Texas -- GTE Corp. said today it has approved an increased capital spending plan that will enable the Genuity unit, formerly GTE Internetworking, to accelerate the building of its network infrastructure.

The project will require capital expenditures of up to $2 billion in 2000 and between $11 billion and $13 billion over five years, the company said. The spending level for 2000 is an increase of about $1 billion, GTE said.

Genuity also filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its shares. Proceeds will go toward offsetting a portion of the capital spending.

GTE, parent of Hawaiian Tel, said its priority is completing its merger with Bell Atlantic Corp., targeted for later this quarter.

In other news . . .

SALT LAKE CITY -- Wells Fargo & Co. plans to purchase First Security for $3.2 billion, the companies announced today. The combined bank will be the largest in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and New Mexico, with assets of approximately $241 billion and operations in 23 states.

---

Of Mutual Concern

News for mutual fund investors

Latin America funds shut on investor apathy

NEW YORK -- Five mutual funds dedicated to Latin America said this week they will shut down, as investors shun the region's slumping economies and shrinking stock markets.

Chase Manhattan Corp. is closing its Latin American Equity Fund and two smaller ones. Also shutting down are CIBC World Markets Corp.'s Mexico Equity and Income Fund, and the Unite Kingdom's Five Arrows Chile Investment Trust Ltd.

"Investors in developed markets don't want to deal with country specifics, or even region specifics," said Carlos Asilis, Latin American equity strategist at J.P. Morgan & Co.

Assets in U.S. equity mutual funds dedicated to Latin America have tumbled by two thirds to $2.1 billion from their July 1997 peak of $5.7 billion, according to Financial Research Corp., a Boston-based mutual fund consultant. Last year, Latin American funds lost an estimated $339 million, as inflows to global emerging markets funds totaled $914 million, FRC said.

Nuveen Investments opens 2 high-tech funds

CHICAGO -- Nuveen Investments, a unit of Chicago-based John Nuveen Co., is offering two defined portfolios, one investing in telecommunications technology businesses, the other in companies focusing on Europe's Internet. "The demand for fiber optics technology continues to grow due to the increasing demand for bandwidth," William Adams, executive vice president of Nuveen Structured Investments, said in a statement. "Europe is undergoing an Internet revolution. An increase in home computer purchases and Internet access has fueled an upsurge in Internet use and e-business transactions."

Nuveen Fiber Optics Sector Portfolio, invests in 20 stocks representing well-established fiber optics and telecommunications firms. Nuveen European Internet Portfolio invests in 25 stocks representing companies across the European Internet sector, including browser software, networking equipment, Internet service providers and network security.