Hawaiian Dredging
finds buyer

A U.S. subsidiary of a Japan
company has agreed to purchase
the construction company

---

By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., the historic business that started in 1902 and gave rise to Dillingham Corp., has found a buyer and says it will stay in the islands with no loss of jobs and under its old name.

The intended buyer is Kajima U.S.A. Inc., the American subsidiary of a Japan-headquartered worldwide construction giant that had more than $16 billion in revenues last year.

A letter of intent has been signed but the price has not yet been disclosed, the companies said.

Hawaiian Dredging has had close contact with Kajima for more than 20 years, William Wilson, president and CEO, said yesterday.

They first worked together when Central Pacific Bank hired Hawaiian Dredging as the contractor for its new headquarters building in downtown Honolulu, Wilson said. The bank had strong connections in Japan with part-owner Sumitomo Bank and through that with Kajima,

"(Kajima) had some people involved and they reviewed the construction," Wilson said. That collaboration led to others.

"We were the general contractor for the Four Seasons at Hualalai, where they are the owner and developer," he said.

Wilson said the 500-plus employees at Hawaiian Dredging will remain -- the number varies according to the jobs in hand -- and "we expect to continue to use the name Hawaiian Dredging."

Hawaiian Dredging was founded in Honolulu to build harbors serving the railway line built by Benjamin F. Dillingham. With the approval of King David Kalakaua, Dillingham completed the railway linking Honolulu to West Oahu in 1889. In 1961, the companies he founded, Oahu Railway & Land Co. and Hawaiian Dredging, merged with other Dillingham businesses, such as Hawaiian Bitumuls, to form Dillingham Corp. Dillingham Construction was its main subsidiary.

Dillingham moved its head office to Pleasanton, Calif., in the 1980s, but Hawaiian Dredging remained behind as Hawaii's biggest construction firm, building hotels, shopping centers (including Ala Moana Center), residential developments and other projects in the islands.

Last year, Dillingham sold 67-year-old Hawaiian Bitumuls to Grace Pacific Corp., making Hawaiian Dredging its only remaining isle business.

Wilson said the fact that Dillingham Construction moved to the mainland does not lessen its presence in Hawaii. As long as Hawaiian Dredging is alive and well, the Dillingham legacy remains strong in Hawaii, Wilson said.

For Kajima, the purchase will give it direct ownership of a company it is working with on a number of jobs. A recently formed partnership of Hawaiian Dredging and a Kajima subsidiary, Kajima Construction Services, is the contractor for the new University of Hawaii medical school in Kakaako.

Other Hawaiian Dredging-Kajima joint projects include a Kamehameha Schools campus at Keaau on the Big Island and Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas on Maui.

The companies said the transaction is expected to close in July.