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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, May 31, 2000

Nike insurance unit opens in Hawaii

Nike Inc. is setting up a captive insurance company subsidiary, Triax Insurance Co., in Hawaii, the 11th such self-insurance company to be licensed in the islands this year, the state said.

Gov. Ben Cayetano and officials from Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike announced the company's move yesterday.

"Captive insurance is a formalized approach to self-insurance where an organizer sets up a separate legal entity in Hawaii and obtains a special license to provide insurance to the organizer and its affiliates," said Wayne Metcalf, the state insurance commissioner. Hawaii has become one of the world's top 10 locations for captive insurance companies and is second in the nation behind Vermont, Cayetano said. He also signed three bills yesterday aimed at further promoting Hawaii as a place to set up captive insurance companies. The industry creates jobs for insurance managers, accountants, auditors, investment managers and attorneys.

Kmart hires away CVS' president

TROY, Mich. -- Kmart Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, said it hired CVS Corp. President Charles Conaway as chairman and chief executive, effective immediately. The 39-year-old Conaway replaces Floyd Hall, 61, who is retiring a year before his contract was set to expire in April 2001. Conaway spent three years as CVS' financial chief until a year ago, when he became president of the drugstore chain.

Lucent acquiring fiber-optic company

MURRAY HILL, N.J. _ Lucent Technologies Inc. agreed to buy Chromatis Networks Inc., a closely held maker of fiber-optic equipment, for as much as $4.65 billion in stock to keep up with rivals in optical networking. The biggest maker of phone equipment will pay 78 million shares for the 93 percent of Chromatis it does not own, plus as much as 2.5 million shares to key employees of the Herndon, Va.-based company. Lucent is matching the aggressiveness of Nortel Networks Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. by snapping up startups with no sales or profit.