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Hawaiian Telcom to sell junk bonds

Hawaiian Telcom Communications, which will be the state's dominant phone company after parent Carlyle Group completes its purchase of Verizon Hawaii, is selling $550 million in junk bonds to fund the acquisition.

The notes, with due dates in 2013, will be sold to investors outside the United States, and proceeds will pay for Carlyle's purchase and related expenses, Hawaiian Telcom said yesterday.

The notes will be priced April 26, according to Bloomberg News, which cited a person familiar with the transaction.

The notes have not yet been rated by Moody's Investor's Service or Standard & Poor's, Bloomberg said, though they will have high-yield, high-risk investment ratings.

Carlyle and Verizon announced Friday they had amended terms of the deal to comply with restrictions mandated by the state Public Utilities Commission.

The commission still must sign off on the amended terms. The deal is expected to close early next month.

Travelers prefer Florida, California

Hawaii remains top of mind for U.S. mainland travelers, according to the Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell/Yankelovich Partners 2005 National Leisure Travel Monitor, released yesterday.

Twenty-two percent of travelers surveyed said they wanted to visit Hawaii during the next two years. Top picks in the survey were Florida at 40 percent and California at 36 percent. New York, Colorado and Nevada were also popular choices.

According to the survey, 63 percent of American leisure travelers are interested in visiting the neighbor islands and 59 percent are interested in Honolulu.

National parks topped the list of specific destinations of interest, while the resorts of Colorado, Tahoe, New York City, Orlando and Las Vegas also earned high marks.

Trips that include nature remain very popular, with the incidence of beach/lake vacations rising significantly over previous surveys, the study said.

The National Leisure Travel Monitor is an annual survey of 1,650 U.S. adults, which is used as a barometer to measure travel trends.

HEI execs to get more money

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. will boost the annual base salaries of its top executives starting next month, with Robert Clarke, chairman and chief executive, getting a 4.5 percent increase to $757,600.

Also getting raises are American Savings Bank leader Connie Lau, whose pay will rise 4.6 percent to $570,000; Hawaiian Electric Co. executive T. Michael May, $560,000, up 3.7 percent; and Chief Financial Officer Eric K. Yeaman, $370,000, up 5.1 percent.

Tax Freedom Day arrives today

Today marks Tax Freedom Day for Hawaii, the hypothetical day of the year that illustrates how much of total income goes to pay taxes.

If all income earned up to this day went to pay the government, Hawaii residents could keep the rest of their income for the remainder of the year, according to calculations by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.

Hawaii has the third-highest state-and-local tax burden in the nation, at 11.5 percent of income, trailing New York at 12 percent and Maine at 13 percent, according to the organization.

HP executive will lead Daiei reorganization

Daiei Inc. said Yasuyuki Higuchi, president of Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd., will become its president, joining the former head of BMW Japan Corp. on an executive team responsible for reorganizing more than $9 billion in debt.

Higuchi, 47, will become president after a shareholders' meeting in May, a spokeswoman said.

Daiei, 23 percent owned by private equity firm Advantage Partners Inc., is hiring outside managers as it undergoes a government-led reorganization.

Higuchi, 47, became HP Japan president in 2003. He has worked for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Apple Computer Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp. The Asahi newspaper in March named him as a possible Daiei president.