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CB asks court to toss meeting complaint

CB Bancshares Inc. filed a motion for summary judgment in state Circuit Court Friday asking for a dismissal of the May 14 complaint made by potential acquirer Central Pacific Financial Corp.

In CPF's complaint, the bank challenged the legitimacy of CB's special shareholders meeting held Wednesday. CB's motion urges the court to reject CPF's allegation that CB did not follow the law and should not have held the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to vote on a proposal allowing CPF to acquire at least a majority of CB's outstanding shares.

The proposal was defeated 33 percent to 15 percent, with 3 percent abstaining, but CPF urged CB shareholders prior to the meeting not to vote. CPF has scheduled its own shareholders meeting on June 26. CB claims that meeting is invalid.

Clarke sells HEI stock options

Robert Clarke, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., has sold 50,000 shares of stock options that were part of his executive compensation.

The options, which vested over a four-year period, were sold last week Wednesday and Thursday at prices ranging from $45.88 to $46.23. Clarke's gross proceeds, which exclude commission and taxes, were $454,365.

Clarke, who also had the choice of purchasing the options, presently owns 20,105 shares of common stock.

PeopleSoft to buy J.D. Edwards

PeopleSoft Inc., the world's No. 3 maker of software for managing accounting and inventory, will buy smaller rival J.D. Edwards & Co. for $1.7 billion in stock, the largest computer-related acquisition in the U.S. announced this year.

PeopleSoft, based in Pleasanton, Calif., agreed to pay 0.86 share for each share of J.D. Edwards. The offer price, valued at about $14.10, is a 19 percent premium to J.D. Edwards's stock price on Friday. The deal will be completed this year, the companies said in a statement.

The purchase will vault PeopleSoft ahead of Oracle Corp. in sales of business applications like payroll processing and tracking supplies, and make it second only to Walldorf, Germany-based SAP AG in the market, according to a Bloomberg News report. The deal comes amid a two-year slump in software demand and may be a harbinger of more acquisitions, investors said.

PeopleSoft shares, which dropped 54 percent last year, closed down $1.42, or 8.7 percent, at $14.97 on the Nasdaq. Denver-based J.D. Edwards climbed 78 cents to $12.59.

Japan Airlines extends staff leave

Japan Airlines System Corp., Asia's biggest carrier, said it will extend a program to get workers to take unpaid leave to cut costs, because of a slump in travel demand caused by the spread of the SARS virus.

The Tokyo-based carrier's Japan Airlines Co. unit, which earlier asked for volunteers among 7,000 cabin attendants to take one month of unpaid leave, will extend the program to 11,000 other employees, including pilots and ground workers, company spokesman Tatsuo Yoshimura. The program will run from July to March 2004.

SARS worsened a travel slump caused by the Iraq war and the weak Japan economy. Japan Airlines said last week it expects passenger numbers to fall 40 percent in June.

L.A. group, Marriott eye Aladdin property

LAS VEGAS >> A Los Angeles-based investment group is teaming up with Marriott International Inc. to bid on the bankrupt Aladdin hotel-casino.

Marriott intends to invest $25 million in the property's hotel, said Richard Alter, managing director of Financial Capital Investment Co.

Alter said Marriott would run the hotel, but have nothing to do with gambling operations. He said the deal made sense for the well-known hotel chain.

"Marriott has every major city covered except for Las Vegas," Alter said yesterday. "They have tremendous demand for a Strip property."

Alter's group has offered to assume $476 million of the casino's debt and invest $100 million in capital projects, according to court records. The casino would be named ASIA.

The Marriott deal also includes a 50-50 joint venture to develop an adjacent property with timeshares, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Alter's plan, which was submitted in U.S. bankruptcy court by the Las Vegas Hotel Casino Investors, has not been approved by Aladdin's lenders, he said.

Air Canada reaches deal with pilots union

TORONTO >> Air Canada reached a tentative agreement yesterday with the union representing its 3,150 pilots on cutbacks, clearing a crucial hurdle in its effort to restructure under bankruptcy protection.

The agreement comes after deals had been made with eight other unions on wage cuts, layoffs, more flexible work rules and other concessions that the airline says are essential.

Air Canada, which carries about 70 percent of domestic air travelers, said in a statement yesterday that it "has now achieved its overall labor cost reduction target." Before the deal with the pilots, the airline had obtained 766 million Canadian dollars ($560 million) a year in concessions. Adding the cuts in the agreement with the pilots, the airline puts the total at 1.1 billion Canadian dollars.

Besides improving the carrier's cash flow, the deals with the unions are expected to help it satisfy a recent directive from Canada's financial services regulator that it contribute 165 million Canadian dollars to its pension plan.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

Recognition

>> Kathy Yamashiro, Della Kunimune and Wayne Leonida were recognized at the Hawaii Business Education Association's recent annual conference. Yamashiro, interim director for career and technical education for the University of Hawaii community colleges won the HBEA Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Contributions to Business Education by an Administrator. Kunimune and Leonida received the HBEA Post-Secondary Educator of the Year Award. Kunimune is an instructor of accounting at Leeward Community College and Leonida is with Hawaii Business College. And Jean Hara, a Hawaii professor of business technology, was recently named section editor for the Business Education Forum, the official publication of the parent group, the National Business Education Association.

>> Sprint Hawaii Vice President and General Manager Nonie Toledo was named 2003 Pacific Business News Businesswoman of the Year. PBN also honored Pacific Air Cargo and its CEO Beti Ward as No. 1 on their list of Hawaii's top 25 women-owned businesses. Beadie Kanahele Dawson was named Gladys Kamakakuokalani 'Ainoa Brandt Kupuna Businesswoman of the Year. She is CEO and general counsel of environmental, construction and information technology company Dawson Group Inc. and a Na Pua A Kealii Pauahi attorney.

>> Milici Valenti Ng Pack and its sister company Firefly have recognized Account Supervisor Marlene Teramae with the Ray Milici Award and Development Manager Carla Smith with the Frank Valenti Award. Teramae spearheaded the $120,000 Matson "Promote Hawaii" campaign that helped stimulate travel to Hawaii in the wake of 9/11. The campaign had a media value of over $2 million and raised $35,000 for Aloha United Way. Smith guided the Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau-President's Day Campaign to win a Pele Award and The Contemporary Museum and Hawaii film Office to win Awards of Excellence.