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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, February 26, 2001

Sheraton starts work on Maui time-share

The first Starwood time-share project in Hawaii, a complex of 280 resort villas on Maui, now has a name, the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas, the developer said today. Construction is progressing on the project, which had not been named when a ground-breaking ceremony was held in November.

The first phase of 48 units should be completed in the fourth quarter, said Orlando, Fla.-based Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc. The time-share resort is on a 14-acre site near the Westin Maui and Sheraton Maui hotels, both units of Starwood Vacation parent Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. The resort will have off-site sales offices at the two Maui hotels and at the Sheraton Waikiki.

Starwood Hotels operates 17 hotels in Hawaii, under the Sheraton, Luxury Collection, Westin and W brands.

AT&T Wireless opens on Big Isle

The former U.S. Cellular operation on the Big Island officially change its name today to AT&T Wireless Services, following the sale of U.S. Cellular in August. The changeover affects six retail locations on the Big Island. Customers will have access to AT&T's nationwide network of services and rates, Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless Group said today. AT&T Wireless has operated on Maui since 1995 and expanded to Oahu last year after buying Honolulu Cellular.

Hilo Hattie expands with Miami outlet

Local retailer and manufacturer Hilo Hattie said it plans to open its fourth mainland store on Thursday at the Dolphin Mall in Miami. The 20,000-square-foot outlet will offer the retailer's selection of Island-style products, including T-shirts, gifts, beauty products and fine jewelry. Hilo Hattie has seven stores in Hawaii and opened its first mainland outlet in November 1998 in Anaheim, Calif. Last year, stores opened in Nashville, Tenn., and Tempe, Ariz.

In other news . . .

STUTTGART, Germany -- Massive bleeding at its U.S.-based auto unit left automaker DaimlerChrysler AG with a loss for the last three months of 2000, its first quarterly deficit since Chrysler Corp. was acquired by Daimler-Benz in 1998. DaimlerChrysler also said its overall revenue and operating profit would tumble this year. DaimlerChrysler posted an overall loss of $269 million in the quarter.

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Of Mutual Concern

News for mutual fund investors

Money market funds getting more activity

NEW YORK -- Forget the image of panicked stock market investors fleeing to the safety of their money market funds.

The bulk of a recent flood of inflows into such funds seems attributable more to institutional money market investors employing an arbitrage strategy that they typically use in a period of falling interest rates than it is to a stampede of nervous equity players.

In the last week, two groups have released data showing strong growth in the cash parked in the money market sector. On Feb. 7, the Investment Company Institute reported that total money fund assets cracked the $2 trillion level, rising to $2.033 trillion as of last Wednesday, an increase of $14.68 billion from the prior week's tally.

Meanwhile, iMoneyNet Inc.'s weekly Money Fund Report, released Wednesday, has shown similar growth. Taxable money fund assets swelled to a record $1.97 trillion for the week ended Tuesday. During January, inflows grew by their largest margin ever, swelling by $116 billion, double the prior record, the company said.

Fund managers expect stronger European growth

LONDON -- European fund managers expect the region's economy to strengthen over the next 12 months, even as growth in the United States, the world's largest economy, slows, according to a Merrill Lynch & Co. survey.

"People are optimistic Europe is going to decouple from a U.S. slowdown," said David Bowers, Merrill's chief global investment strategist. "Although corporate earnings are being downgraded, the market is cheap and there is a lot of cash."

A third of European fund managers expect growth in European and global economies to strengthen in the next year, according to Merrill's monthly survey of 240 fund companies that oversee $9.7 trillion of assets.

Fund managers worldwide said the probability of a U.S. recession has risen to 40 percent from 23 percent in December and 33 percent last month, the survey found. Most fund managers in the United States and Europe expect interest rates to fall further.

American Century enlists investment advisers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- American Century Investments, the fifth-largest direct seller of mutual funds in the United States, plans to start marketing some of its funds through investment advisers.

American Century, which has $100 billion under management, plans to offer "Class C" shares for some of its funds that will charge a fee to cover annual commissions for the investment advisers who sell them. So far, American Century has filed to sell C shares for just one fund -- American Century Target Maturities Trust Series 2030 -- which is expected to be available for sale June 1. The firm expects to file to sell C shares of other bond and stock funds by the end of February.

Portfolio experts buying stocks in their rivals

NEW YORK -- Some mutual fund managers are scooping up the stocks of rival fund companies as they anticipate more acquisitions within the asset management industry.

The managers point to two major factors that make such a strategy attractive: the scarcity of publicly traded asset management companies and the ever-strong interest from big insurance companies and banks from home and abroad to take part in the lucrative asset management business in the United States. Among such large fund companies are Franklin Resources Inc., T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Stilwell Financial Inc., the parent company of Janus Capital Corp. Managers also mention smaller firms like Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. and Neuberger Berman Inc. as possible acquisition targets.