State, DFS
OK talk extension
The DFS duty-free stores unit of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and the state have agreed to extend talks on a new rent deal for duty-free outlets in Hawaii airports.
The extension until Aug. 9 of talks that have already spanned three months comes as the state and the unit of the world's biggest luxury goods company seek to hammer out a deal to resolve a dispute over unpaid rent on airport concessions in the key tourist destination last year.
A spokesman for LVMH said the decision to extend the talks had been reached by "mutual agreement."
Earlier this year Hawaii claimed DFS owed $49 million in unpaid rent as the retailer protested that the terms of its airport outlet rental deals didn't reflect the drastically reduced flow of traffic to the state's airports since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.
In April, DFS paid $25 million in rent owed from 2002, while Hawaii agreed to freeze a $100 million lawsuit filed against DFS over what the state claimed were loan repayments to LVMH that violated Hawaii law.