Brewer Environmental
sells core divisions

The purchase by a local group
is slated to close this year

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

The core businesses of Brewer Environmental Industries LLC, the former Brewer Chemical Co., have been sold to a five-member local partnership consisting of two of its own executives and some significant outside local investors.

BEI's distribution and environmental services divisions have been acquired for an undisclosed price by a partnership called Phoenix 5 LLC. The purchase, scheduled to close by the end of the year, includes most of the business of Hawaii's largest distributor of fertilizer and chemicals for agriculture and industry.

While BEI has operated in recent years as a separately incorporated business from the company that formed it, C. Brewer & Co., state business registration records show that some of its officers and directors are C. Brewer-related people.

Under the new setup, it will be run as BEI Hawaii, headed by Richard T. Hill, president and chief executive officer. Hill has been a vice president of Brewer Environmental Industries LLC, but not an officer of C. Brewer. Marc C. Tilker, vice president and chief financial officer of another related company, Brewer Environmental Holdings LLC, was named executive vice president and chief financial officer.

He is the son of Marvin Tilker, one of the partners in the 1986 purchase of C. Brewer & Co. from Philadelphia-based International Utilities Corp. Marvin Tilker is a partner in the purchase, along with Hill and Marc Tilker, as are two non-Brewer people -- Richard In, a director of Aloha Airlines parent Aloha Airgroup Inc., and local industrial relations attorney Robert Katz -- a spokesman for the buyers said.

The purchase agreement does not include Brewer Environmental Industries subsidiaries HT&T Co., a Big Island transportation business; Hilo Coast Power Co., an energy company originally based in C. Brewer's sugar business; Food Quality Labs; and a construction division.

They will continue to be owned and operated by Brewer Environmental Industries LLC.

There are more than 100 employees in the businesses being acquired -- the companies declined to be specific -- and most will be offered jobs under the new structure, Hill said.

"Hawaii's economy is obviously going through some difficult times, but we believe that a streamlined company will do well," he said in a statement.