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CPF spent $10.6M on merger attempt

Central Pacific Financial Corp. spent $10.6 million last year on its hostile takeover attempt of CB Bancshares Inc., according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The parent of Central Pacific Bank said in the filing that it capitalized $9.3 million in merger-related costs, meaning it would have to take that amount as a one-time charge in the future if the merger does not occur. Central Pacific also said it had merger-related expenses of $1.3 million that have been reflected as an operating expense on previous financial statements.

City Bank's parent hasn't filed its annual SEC report yet, but acknowledged in its fourth-quarter earnings release in January that it spent $6.6 million defending the attempted takeover.

Together, the two banks spent a total of $17.2 million through Dec. 31 on the merger.

Central Pacific also said in the filing that it plans to open at least two new branches this year to bring its total number to 26.

Visitor units remain stable

A state report shows that visitor accommodations inched up by 0.3 percent in 2003 from 2002, for a total of 70,977 units statewide.

While the total number of visitor units has remained stable over the last decade, recently there has been some shifting of conventional hotel rooms to time-share units, said the state's Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. Also, some economy and budget-type rooms have been upgraded and placed in the luxury-room category.

Visitor accommodations showed the most growth in Maui County, with a 3.3 percent increase for Maui and Molokai. The number of units on Lanai remained unchanged. Visitor units on Kauai grew by 3.1 and on the Big Island by 1.9 percent. Oahu's inventory dropped by 2.2 percent to 35,664 units. The decline was attributed to conversions of off-beach hotels to condominium and apartment buildings.

The data, based on a survey conducted in May 2003, was released Tuesday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

SunTrips expands to S.F., Seattle

Tour operator SunTrips, which has been offering vacation packages to Hawaii from Oakland six days a week, said yesterday it has expanded its reach to San Francisco and Seattle through a marketing agreement with American Trans Air.

The alliance went into effect Monday and allows travelers to use two additional airports to catch SunTrips' flights.

"This allows us to expand our service into Hawaii without adding another aircraft ourself," SunTrips spokesman Cary Evans said.

SunTrips uses a 214-passenger Boeing 757-200 out of Oakland operated by North American Airlines. Departures from San Francisco and Seattle will be tied to ATA's flight schedule.

Six-day packages, which include round-trip airfare, airport transfers and accommodations, start at $620 from San Francisco and $645 from Seattle. Prices are per person based on double occupancy and exclude all fees and taxes.