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HAWAII

Perot Systems chairman will give talk about tech

The chairman of a company co-founded by legendary businessman Ross Perot is scheduled to be the next guest speaker in the Kipapa i ke Ala lectures at the University of Hawaii on Oct. 21.

James Champy, chairman of Texas-based information technology company Perot Systems Corp., will speak about "Technology, Work and the Transformation of Companies," from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the UH College of Business Administration, in room A-101.

Champy has written several books, including "Reengineering the Corporation," "Reengineering Management," and "X-Engineering The Corporation: Reinventing Your Business in the Digital Age."

The talk will be the 12th in the Kipapa i ke Ala lecture series, which is sponsored by the business college and the UH William S. Richardson School of Law.

Aviam Soifer, dean of the law school, said Champy is "one of the world's most insightful and yet practical experts on the important subject of change and its impact on people and organizations. Champy is also unusually clear and down to earth, and he is always worth hearing."

Architect will head UH program

Don Goo, senior vice president and former chairman of the architecture firm Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, has joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii-Manoa School of Architecture.

Goo becomes a professor and director of practicum. He will be responsible for coordinating the school's off-campus professional leadership practicum program, which consists of more than 40 chief executive-level principal architects who serve as mentors for students placed in offices in major cities around the world. The program was previously directed by Joyce Noe, associate dean of the School of Architecture.

Previously an adjunct faculty of the school, Goo has served in several major roles, including adviser for the first-in-nation professional doctoral program, with a focus on Asia-Pacific practices.

Among his many notable projects with Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo are the Hawaii Convention Center and the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

NATION

Clorox sets deal to buy back stake

Clorox Co., the largest U.S. household-bleach maker, agreed to buy back Henkel KgaA's 29 percent stake in the company in a deal valued at about $2.84 billion as its German partner of 30 years builds up its own U.S. business after acquiring Dial Corp.

Clorox will swap $2.1 billion in cash, its Soft Scrub and Combat brands and its share in a joint venture to buy the stake owned by Dusseldorf-based Henkel, the maker of Duck tape and Persil detergent, the companies said in separate statements. The transaction values the Henkel stake at a 15 percent discount to Clorox's closing share price yesterday.

WORLD

Carlyle to invest $1 billion in China

The Carlyle Group, the world's third-largest buyout firm and prospective purchaser of Verizon Hawaii, plans to increase investments in China to more than $1 billion as the pace of state asset sales picks up and more private start-ups seek capital.

The Washington-based fund, which has $150 million invested in China, aims to have as much as 60 percent of the assets of its Asian funds invested in the country within a "few years," Wayne Tsou, Hong Kong-based head of Asia ventures, said in a telephone interview. China investments will be made by three Asian funds, which plan to more than double their assets in the next year from $1.1 billion currently.

Carlyle, with more than $18 billion under management, is expanding in the world's fastest-growing major economy as the government accelerates the sale of state companies.

Asian airlines to need 1,600 new airplanes

Boeing Co., the world's second-biggest maker of commercial aircraft, said it expects Japanese and South Korean airlines will need about 1,600 airplanes from both it and rivals over the next 20 years as travel expands in the region.

The market for the aircraft, including both passenger and freight airlines, would be worth about $208 billion, the company said in a statement given to reporters in Yokohama, Japan.

Boeing, which lost the top spot in the delivery of commercial aircraft to Airbus SAS for the first time in 2003, aims to get more orders from Asian airlines.

All Nippon Airways Co. agreed in April to buy 50 7E7 aircraft worth $6 billion, according to list prices, becoming the first airline to commit to use the proposed jetliners.

Demand drives down Tokyo office vacancy

Tokyo office vacancies fell to almost a two-year low in September as demand for office buildings increases and rentable space fell, according to Miki Shoji Co. a privately held office brokerage company.

The vacancy rate for office space dropped to 7.15 percent in September from 7.4 percent in August in Tokyo's five main business districts of Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya, Miki Shoji said in a report distributed through the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation. The last time the rate was lower was October 2002, when vacancies were at 6.51 percent, Miki Shoji said.

Office space use in the capital city's main business districts has improved on a rise in demand from companies.