Health insurer TRG agrees to end Hawaii plan

Insolvent health insurer TRG Marketing LLC has voluntarily agreed to close its health plan this month. The company had been under investigation by the state Insurance Division and the U.S. Department of Labor.

TRG sold its plan, known as Hawaii HealthCare Alliance, illegally in Hawaii. The plan was marketed as a federal plan, hence exempt from state regulations. But a federal investigation later found the Indiana- based company had no financial or actuarial records to support the premiums it charged.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Metcalf estimated as many as 300 people in Hawaii had been paying premiums to TRG. In Oct. 2000, the Insurance Division seized the company when it was unable to pay claims. In January, the division obtained a court order granting the liquidation of the HHA.

Those enrolled in the plan or health care providers who treated HHA members may get more information at 586-2790.

Waikiki Trader finalizes purchase of Crazy Shirts

Principals of local retail group Waikiki Trader Corp. have completed their purchase of Crazy Shirts out of bankruptcy, keeping most of the retailer's 40 stores on Hawaii and the mainland.

The new owner agreed to buy Crazy Shirts at a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction on Oct. 25 and closed the deal Monday. Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Big Dog Holdings was originally supposed to purchase Crazy Shirts out of bankruptcy for $10 million, but the deal fell apart in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Crazy Shirts has since closed a handful of stores, including outlets in Haleiwa and Waikiki.

The new owners paid $8.25 million for Crazy Shirts and the company's Halawa facility, plus an amount that will be calculated from store sales for the next two years. The purchase did not include Crazy Shirt's manufacturing plant in Tustin, Calif. Waikiki Trader has kept more than 450 workers of Crazy Shirts, a cut of about 16 percent from the 533 employees Crazy Shirts said it had when it filed Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy on Sept. 10.

Hawaiian Electric sells Guam power subsidiary

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. said yesterday it has sold a subsidiary, HEI Power Guam, to Mirant Corp., a global energy business headquartered in Atlanta. The price was not disclosed but HEI said it is making "a nominal profit."

HEI, the parent of Hawaiian Electric Co., said the sale was a result of its corporate decision last month to divest itself of its international power businesses.

HEI Power Guam was formed to repair and operate two 25-megawatt generating stations for the Guam Power Authority. Mirant will take over that role.

Ceatech USA changes stock ticker symbol

Ceatech USA Inc., which received shareholder approval in September to change its name from Controlled Environment Aquaculture Technology Inc., also has changed its ticker symbol on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board. The Kauai shrimp producer, whose stock trades at 70 cents, now is listed under the symbol "CEAH" instead of "CEAT." The ticker change went into effect Nov. 13.

The board of directors said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it believes it was in the best interest to change the company's name to Ceatech USA Inc. because the acronym form of the name is more widely recognized than the company's complete name and is less cumbersome to use in all forms of documentation.

In other news . . .

TOKYO >> Japan got a second vote of no-confidence in less than a week from an international credit agency, emphasizing doubts its prime minister will be able to push through reforms to lift the world's second-largest economy out of a de- cade-long slump. Standard & Poor's cut its rating on Japanese government bonds today by one notch and put the nation's biggest banks on credit watch.