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HAWAII

First Hawaiian sale is dubbed 'Deal of the Year'

First Hawaiian Bank parent BancWest Corp. will be presented the "Deal of the Year" award Monday by the Hawaii Chapter of Financial Executives International at the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom. The program will begin about 12:45 p.m.

BancWest, comprised of First Hawaiian Bank and San Francisco-based Bank of the West, is being feted for its $2.5 billion merger in December 2001 with French banking giant BNP Paribas SA. In the deal, BNP acquired the 55 percent of BancWest shares it didn't already own.

This will be the ninth year that the award is presented to what is judged as Hawaii's most resourceful and far-reaching business deal. The award recognizes a business deal that exhibits a creative business strategy and benefits the local economy, Hawaii's people and the award recipient.

Proceeds from the luncheon fund FEI scholarships for finance students.

JAPAN

Japan Airlines' parent profitable

TOKYO >> Japan Airlines System Corp. announced yesterday it earned $100 million in the recently-ended fiscal year, its first results since it was formed with the merger of two airlines. But it forecast a loss for this year on a slight decline in revenue.

The company earned &YEN11.6 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31. Japan Airlines and Japan Air System, the two carriers that comprise the new company, lost a combined &YEN35.7 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Sales for fiscal 2002 totaled &YEN2.08 trillion ($18 billion), down from &YEN2.29 trillion for the carriers combined a year earlier.

Both the profit and revenue figures were better than the company's forecast.

But the company said it expected to lose money this fiscal year as fears about the SARS outbreak curtail travel to China and other Asian destinations for the entire year. The aftermath of the war in Iraq will likely depress travel through August, it said.

MAINLAND

Rukeyser guest touts Aetna

New York >> Shares of Aetna Inc., the second-biggest U.S. health insurer, are worth buying as the company benefits from restructuring efforts, a guest on "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" television show said.

It's "showing tremendous earnings growth, growth that has exceeded analysts expectations for the last five quarters, yet it only sells at less than 12 times what we feel are pessimistic estimates," Greg Forsythe, equity model director at Charles Schwab Corp., said on the CNBC show.

Forsythe also recommended shares of power tool maker Black & Decker Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc., the provider of combined mobile-telephone and walkie-talkie service.

Arrogance is bad for business

San Francisco >> Executives can self-destruct for lots of reasons, but arrogance is by far the main one, says the co-author of "Why CEOs Fail," a new book that lists 11 behaviors that frequently wipe out chief executive officers.

In many cases, the arrogance comes partly because the CEOs become out of touch with how rank-and-filers feel, says David L. Dotlich, a former executive vice president of Honeywell International who wrote the book with Peter C. Cairo.

"The hierarchy in most companies conspires not to tell the leader the truth," said Dotlich, an Oregon resident who is now a consultant. "We'll tell CEOs that 'as you move up, your jokes get funnier and your observations get brighter."'

The book explains how arrogant CEOs often reinterpret information to reflect their own views, rather than considering whether the information is telling them they should shift policies.

Tobacco industry settles lawsuit with growers

RICHMOND, Va. >> Philip Morris and other cigarette makers agreed yesterday to buy large amounts of U.S.-grown tobacco over the next decade and pay American farmers $200 million to settle allegations they fixed prices paid to growers at auction.

The class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 400,000 growers and quota holders in 2000, charged that cigarette companies violated antitrust laws by rigging bids at tobacco auctions and by conspiring to undermine the federal tobacco quota and price support program.

The growers said the actions led to depressed prices for leaf tobacco.

Philip Morris USA, Lorillard Tobacco Co., Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp. and several other companies joined the settlement. One defendant, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., did not settle, saying it has not engaged in any of the misconduct alleged and would prevail at trial.

As many as 500,000 growers and quota holders across the South could qualify for payment.

The agreement is subject to approval by a federal judge in Greensboro, N.C.

Boeing to build new jet in U.S., lists demands

SEATTLE >> Boeing Co. yesterday said it would build its proposed super-efficient 7E7 jetliner in a U.S. location offering good weather, ample facilities, skilled labor, low taxes, and relaxed business restrictions.

After briefing officials from Washington state who hope to keep the world's biggest jet maker at home, Boeing laid out a laundry list for competing sites to mull over as it solicits bids for the 7E7 assembly site, a mid-sized jet planned for delivery in 2008.

"We will do everything in our power to win the Boeing 7E7 final assembly so we can keep and grow Boeing jobs in our state," Washington Gov. Gary Locke said in a prepared statement. "The criteria that Boeing released today include many of the issues that Washington is already working on or has already completed."

Gov. Locke Thursday signed a bill easing shoreline rules to help the city of Everett build a rail-barge terminal to ship large airplane parts for assembly at Boeing's wide-body jet plant -- the likely home for a Washington-based 7E7.

WorldCom says ex-CEO Ebbers defaults on loan

NEW YORK >> WorldCom Inc. yesterday said former chief executive Bernard Ebbers missed a $25 million loan payment due to the company, and is in default.

Ebbers owed $408.2 million to the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone company when he resigned in April 2002. WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last July, and is still operating under court protection from creditors.

WorldCom said it notified Ebbers on April 30 that he missed the $25 million payment due the prior day. It said another $25 million is due on the loan next year, $75 million in 2005, $100 million in 2006, and the balance in 2007.

Reid Weingarten, Ebbers' lawyer and a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, D.C., did not return a call from Reuters seeking comment.

WorldCom disclosed the missed payment in a revised disclosure statement it filed yesterday with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan. It also filed a revised reorganization plan.

Separately, Arthur Gonzalez, the judge overseeing WorldCom's bankruptcy, refused to appoint a trustee to represent some of WorldCom's MCI trade creditors and bondholders. WorldCom had said such an appointment might jeopardize its plan to exit bankruptcy by the fall.