Sports Shinko An Oregon businessman is suing over the recent sale of a Kauai golf course to local developer Bert A. Kobayashi.
faces suit over
course sales
An Oregon businessman claims
he had a deal to buy Kiahuna
but Sports Shinko renegedBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comDavid Resnick, in the federal lawsuit, said he already had an agreement to buy the Kiahuna Golf Club in Poipu, and alleges that the seller, Sports Shinko Group of Japan, committed fraud.
Meanwhile, Sports Shinko entered bankruptcy in Japan yesterday.
Sports Shinko accepted an offer from Resnick on Jan. 12 to purchase Kiahuna for $10 million, Resnick alleges in his suit. But days later, Sports Shinko turned around and sold the same golf course and two other Hawaii courses to Kobayashi for a total of $12.4 million, the suit said.
On Jan. 25, Kobayashi completed his purchase of the Kiahuna course, as well the Mililani Golf Club on Oahu and the Pukalani Country Club on Maui, records show. Last week, Kobayashi bought the leasehold Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki from Sports Shinko for $5.5 million.
Resnick sued last week in U.S. District Court. He claims that Sports Shinko and its top local official, Satoshi Kinoshita, never disclosed that the firm was planning to sell the Kauai course to Kobayashi, until it was too late for Resnick to block the sale. Resnick is seeking a court order to force Sports Shinko to sell him the golf course as agreed upon. Resnick is also seeking unspecified damages.
In his suit, Resnick attached a copy of a Deposit Receipt Offer and Acceptance form signed by Resnick and Kinoshita. The document, however, is dated as if it were signed in the middle of February, more than a week from now, which is unusual for a purchase agreement that is supposed to have occurred in January.
Resnick, founder of a high-tech start-up company in Portland, Ore., declined comment yesterday. Kinoshita, a resident of Kahala, also declined comment yesterday.
Sports Shinko is represented by Honolulu law firm McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon, which had no comment on the suit yesterday.
Ruth Ann Becker, a spokes-woman for Kobayashi, said the developer is moving forward with his plans to manage the courses, and he has no plans to sell them.
Sports Shinko, which manages more than 30 golf courses around the world, entered bankruptcy in Japan with $2.24 billion in debt, according to the Kyodo news service. Sports Shinko's major creditor, the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp., had applied last month to place Sports Shinko into bankruptcy. The RCC was set up to buy and collect nonperforming loans.
Toshio Kinoshita, father of Satoshi Kinoshita, resigned yesterday as president of Sports Shinko, according to Kyodo news.
Toshio Kinoshita founded Sports Shinko in 1959.
He said this week the firm was suffering from bad investments in the United States, and hefty interest payments on its debt. The firm has applied for legal protection of its 17 affiliate companies.
Sports Shinko bought into Hawaii in the land boom of the late 1980s, and likely suffered from the backlash in the state's economy over the past decade. Sports Shinko, based in Osaka, had a net loss of $756,000 in 2000, according to Kyodo news.
Real estate firm Colliers Monroe Friedlander, retained last year by Sports Shinko to market the Pukalani and Kiahuna courses, had no comment yesterday.