Hawaiian parent
takes out loan
to pay debtThe money was used in an attempt
to get the stock trading again
An attorney for Hawaiian Airlines' parent said yesterday that Chairman and Chief Executive John Adams borrowed money from Smith Management Co. in order to pay an overdue bill that earlier prompted the company's transfer agent to resign and resulted in the halting of Hawaiian's stock.
Richard Havel, who represents Hawaiian Holdings Inc., as well as Adams' other airline-related interests, said the parent company paid Mellon Investor Services LLC "roughly $15,000" that was owed and signed a new agreement for Mellon to be the company's transfer agent.
Adams, who was ousted in June as chairman and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines and replaced by a trustee, is president of Smith Management and is the controlling member of AIP LLC, which is the majority shareholder of Hawaiian Holdings.
Havel also said the holding company continues to talk with the American Stock Exchange to get the hold on the stock lifted and hopes the trading issue will be resolved "in the matter of a week or a little more." Hawaiian's stock last traded at 80 cents on July 14.
"We are continuing to discuss with Amex both what information and level of performance they will require to keep us listed," Havel said. "It is my understanding they are willing to consider a continued listing even if we're not doing a technical public filing."
Hawaiian Holdings announced last week it would no longer file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission because it does not have "unfettered" access to the airlines' employees and documents and wouldn't be able to certify those reports. However, it said it intends to submit the monthly operating reports that the airline is required to file with U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
