Shareholder says report shows
value in Hawaiian Air stock
Hawaiian Holdings Inc. shareholder Norm Caris, whose investors group lost a bid Monday to create a new shareholders committee in the Hawaiian Airlines bankruptcy, said yesterday that the carrier's recent March operating results provide further evidence that the company's stock has value.
The airline said in its filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court that it had nearly $107 million in unrestricted cash at the end of March, a 12 percent gain from $94.6 million at the end of February. Hawaiian also had nearly $73 million in restricted cash at the end of March, giving it a total of more than $179 million.
The restricted cash, which is not immediately available, represents mostly escrow deposits required by Hawaiian's credit card processors.
"The company is a cash cow right now," said Caris, a managing director in institutional sales for investment banking firm Caris & Co. The cash can help repay creditors, and invalidates proposals to reorganize Hawaiian Airlines that regard the stock as worthless, he said.
"There's no way anybody can intelligently say that," Caris said. That's what is in our favor and all the other shareholders."
Caris and hedge fund firms Lonestar Partners LP and Triage Capital Management LP, which collectively control more than 17 percent of parent company Hawaiian Holdings' shares, held a two-hour conference call yesterday to decide their next move after losing a bid to create a minority shareholders committee in the year-old bankruptcy case.
Caris said the group decided not to appeal the decision, and that they are considering filing a reorganization plan for the airline as one of their options. He said the group intends to talk again early next week.
"There's enormous equity value in this stock," Caris said.
"The airline had a record month and another record quarter. If Hawaiian wasn't throwing off a lot of cash from its operations, then the creditors might have more substance to their issues. But they are throwing off tons of cash. That's what makes our options so good. The longer we wait, the move options we have."