Mauna Loa
moving Big Island
base to mainland

About 20 workers
will be affected by the
shift, a source says

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By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com

Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., which was purchased last year by a mainland group, told about 20 administrative workers at the company's Big Island plant yesterday that it was moving its headquarters to Irvine, Calif., an informed source said.

The employees, who worked in administration and accounting, were told their positions would be terminated on Nov. 1, the source said. Information about severance payments was unavailable.

It also couldn't be determined whether employees were given the option to transfer, but the source said it was unlikely due to the fact that they held clerical positions.

Mauna Loa Chief Executive Officer Darrell Askey, President Frank Bragg, and Del Kleckner, the vice president of human resources, were in a meeting yesterday and didn't return phone calls.

C. Brewer & Co., which has been liquidating its assets, sold Mauna Loa last September to the The Shansby Group of San Francisco.

In June, publicly traded ML Macadamia Orchards LP, which grows nuts on more than 4,000 acres on the Big Island, was awarded a summary judgment decision against the new owners of Mauna Loa in a nut purchase dispute.

Judge Greg Nakamura of the third Circuit Court of Hilo, ruled Mauna Loa was under contract to buy all the nuts, including unusable ones, produced by ML Macadamia Orchards.