Mera's China deal worth $1 million over year

Kona-based Mera Pharmaceuticals Inc., which earlier this year said it received approval to build a production plant in China, said today it signed a technical services agreement to support the design, construction and operation of the microalgae cultivation and processing facility on Hainan Island in that country.

Mera produces the nutritional product AstaFactor out of microalgae.

Hainan Sunshine Marine Bioengineering Co. Ltd., a Chinese joint venture company that is building the facility, will pay Mera about $1 million over the next 12 months under the agreement. The first phase of the facility, which is expected to cost approximately $20 million, is due to begin operation late next year.

Mera, formerly known as Aquasearch Inc., said the facility will be 32 times larger than the company's present plant in Kona and future expansion plans call for the new plant to be 128 times the size of the Kona facility.

Richard Propper, chairman and chief executive officer of Mera, said the agreement reaffirms its partner's commitment to distribute AstaFactor in China, where annual sales of several million bottles are projected.

Local graphic artists honored

The 2002 awards for the American Institute of Graphic Artists, Honolulu Chapter, were presented Saturday at its "Hawaii's 5-0" show.

The top five print category winners were Nomura Design for the 2001 CBP Inc. annual report printed by Edward Enterprises; Agape Design for Four Seasons Resort bookmarks printed by Electric Pencil; Stuart Henley for his "Intersections 2002 - 2003" poster printed by Edward Enterprises; Voice for Hawaii Skin Diver magazine with dual printing credit for Electric Pencil and Service Printers; and Studio Ignition for its 2001 holiday card printed by Electric Pencil.

In Web design, the three top winners were Giddy Machine for Island Snow at www.islandsnow.com; Tsunami Marketing for "Everyone Needs Water ..." at www.lastbestplace.com and Stacey Leong Design for www.sonnyching.com.

A schedule for the traveling exhibit of winning art is at www.honolulu.aiga.org.

CEOs expect weak economy

WASHINGTON >> Most U.S. companies will eliminate jobs and won't increase spending on new equipment next year because the U.S. economy is expanding at an anemic pace, according to a survey of chief executive officers.

Almost two-thirds of the chief executives surveyed by the Business Roundtable forecast GDP will increase less than 2 percent in 2003. Last year, the economy grew 0.3 percent.

Tyco director Ashcroft first to resign

EXETER, N.H. >> A Tyco International board member who urged fellow directors to resign amid a criminal investigation of the conglomerate's former chairman has stepped down.

Lord Michael Ashcroft said yesterday he felt obligated to follow his plan by being the first to resign. "I have been a vocal and persistent advocate of the wholesale replacement of the current board as the preferred option," he wrote to Tyco's new chairman and chief executive officer, Ed Breen. "Consistent with that lead, I should set the example by being the first to stand down."

Ashcroft's resignation followed a board vote Friday to scrap a plan to retain, for continuity's sake, two members of the board that served under L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former Tyco chairman and CEO now under state criminal and federal securities charges.

Tyco shares closed up 13 cents to $14.93 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Anti-cancer tomatoes get consumer vote

WASHINGTON >> Cancer-fighting tomatoes and bananas that protect against sexually transmitted diseases top the list of advancements being made in biotech food, according to Americans surveyed by an industry group.

The Council for Biotechnology Information said yesterday that a research program aimed at enhancing tomatoes with an antioxidant believed to help fight cancer was ranked as the leading biotech food development in 2002 by two-thirds of a group of 1,000 American adults surveyed.

Such a tomato is not yet commercially available, but is one of myriad genetically modified plants going through research and development.

The council was founded by a group of the world's largest purveyors of biotech food science, including BASF, DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta.