General Growth closes on Victoria Ward buy

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust that owns Ala Moana Center said it has completed its stock purchase of Victoria Ward Ltd. for $250 million.

General Growth Properties Inc. announced in April that it was buying Victoria Ward, which owns 65 acres in Kakaako. The property spans 880,000 square feet of retail space and 440,000 square feet of commercial, office and industrial properties near Ala Moana.

The purchase price includes the assumption of $50 million in short-term debt, and is the largest retail transaction in Hawaii since General Growth bought Ala Moana in 1999 for $810 million.

New home construction topic of June meeting

The boom in new home construction on Oahu and its impact on the real estate market will be the topic of the June 19 membership meeting of The Institute of Real Estate Management-Hawaii chapter.

Speakers include David Murphy of Brookfield Homes, Bob Brant of Gentry Homes, Harry Saunders of Castle & Cooke and Stanford Carr from Stanford Carr Development. The cost of the luncheon meeting is $20 for members and $26 for guests. Registration deadline is June 14. For more information contact Barbara Campbell at 921-6679.

Corporate planners will talk about agriculture

Andrew Hashimoto, dean of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, will be the guest speaker at the June 20 meeting of the Hawaii Society of Corporate Planners.

Hashimoto's speech will focus on the role and the future of diversified agriculture in the state's economy.

The luncheon meeting, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will be at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. The cost for society members is $25 and $30 for guests. For more information, contact Roberta Cullen at 537-2356.

Japan output rises less than expected

TOKYO >> Japanese industrial output climbed for a third straight month in April but was weaker than expected, raising doubts about the sustainability of Japan's fragile economic recovery from its deepest recession in half a century.

Output at Japan's factories rose 0.2 percent in April from March, weaker than the 1.0 percent gain expected by 18 economists polled by Reuters, government data showed today.

Compared with a year earlier, production was down 6.1 percent, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The surprisingly weak gain in the seasonally adjusted month-on-month figure came despite a big leap in exports, which swelled 5 percent in volume terms from a year ago while climbing by value for the first time in 13 months.

But the ministry said it expected manufacturing output in the world's second-biggest economy to continue rising in the month ahead, forecasting a gain of 5.1 percent in May followed by a 0.4 percent dip in June.

The April data showed inventories falling 10.6 percent from a year earlier.