PTC lands heavy hitter for January conference

Vodafone CEO Sir Christopher Gent will deliver the keynote address at the Honolulu-based Pacific Telecommunications Council's January meeting.

The head of the British telecommunications giant will speak Jan. 14 during PTC's 24th annual international conference, PTC2002.

The theme of the event, which takes place Jan. 13-17 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, is Next Generation Communications: Making IT Work.

Gent was hired as managing director of Vodafone Ltd. in January 1985. That same year, Vodafone completed the first mobile call in the United Kingdom. He has since been celebrated for his management skills, particularly for orchestrating the firm's hostile bid for Mannesmann in 1999.

Vodafone is the largest company in Europe by market capitalization and the largest telecommunications company of its kind globally. It provides mobile telecommunications services to more than 95 million customers and has interests in 28 countries.

PTC is an international nonprofit group of 730 member organizations that promotes the development of telecommunications and related industries in the Pacific.

For more information on PTC or the conference, visit www.ptc.org.

Ala Moana loan leveraged in bond offering

General Growth Properties Inc. is offering the loans on Ala Moana Center and 26 other shopping centers as collateral for its upcoming $2.5 billion bond offering.

Bond-rating firm Fitch Inc. said the Ala Moana Center mortgage represents about a quarter of the General Growth's collateral, making shopping center loan the largest in the mix.

Daniel Ivascyn, a fund manager at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloomberg News there is concern that Ala Moana represents too big a stake in the bonds. Since Sept. 11, Hawaii's tourism industry has lost $1 billion in revenue and 24,000 jobs.

The Chicago-based company also has sweetened the yields on the commercial mortgage bonds in order to attract investors.

Bond underwriter Goldman Sachs & Co. recently told investors that General Growth is offering a yield that is 60 basis points more than the one-month London interbank offered rate on $1.116 billion in AAA-rated three-year bonds. General Growth initially planned to sell the bonds at 45 basis points more than the rate.

The bonds are expected to be priced later this week.

Hawaii car owners shell out big bucks

Hawaii is the eighth-most expensive state in which to own a car, according to a new study.

Hawaii auto owners pay an average of $8,310 a year to operate a car, which includes fuel, maintenance, insurance, depreciation and licensing fees, according to Runzheimer International, a Rochester, Wis.-based consulting firm.

Hawaii residents pay an average of $2,550 a year in operating costs, such as fuel and tires, and $5,760 in fixed costs, which includes financing and insurance.

The most expensive state is Michigan, with total annual costs of $8,669. Also more expensive than Hawaii are New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Connecticut and Nevada. The cheapest state is Alabama, with a total average annual cost of $7,102.

Insurance rates play a large role in the cost differences, Runzheimer says, along with gas prices, labor rates for maintenance and taxes.

In other news ...

L&L Drive-Inn has opened another L&L Hawaiian Barbecue franchise in California, this time in the San Francisco Bay Area. The new location in San Pablo will be the first L&L in the area.

L&L, founded in 1976, has four other locations in California and more than 50 locations in Hawaii, California and Oregon.