Bank of Hawaii buys back
shares from chairman
Bank of Hawaii Corp. has purchased 644,069 shares of its common stock from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Neill, the company said yesterday.
The bank paid $44.26 per share, 9 cents below the closing price on Thursday, the day of the sale, for a total purchase price of $28.5 million, the announcement said.
O'Neill also exercised employee stock options and bought 90,644 shares at a weighted average exercise price of $27.12 per share. He then sold all but 7,000 of those shares on the open market at an average price of $43.41.
The bank's announcement also said that O'Neill, who has not taken a salary or bonus for three years, donated 70,000 shares to an unnamed charitable fund. He still controls 2.73 million shares directly or under option, about 5 percent of the total.
"My decision to reduce ownership is a prudent personal financial planning strategy to diversify my portfolio and is not based on an evaluation of the company's future prospects," O'Neill said. "I intend to retain a significant equity interest in Bank of Hawaii, which continues to have my full faith and confidence."
While the transaction had to be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission, there was no requirement for any public announcement, said bank spokesman Stafford Kiguchi. The announcement allowed O'Neill to explain his decision and make the transaction transparent, Kiguchi said.
The company has repurchased a total of 32.9 million shares and returned a total of $990.2 million to shareholders since the beginning of the share repurchase program in July 2001, the announcement said.
Remaining buyback authority under the program was $59.8 million as of last Friday, and management will consider recommending that the board of directors expand the program when "the current authorization is more fully utilized," the announcement said.