HAWAII

HEI offering raises $115 million

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. raised $115 million yesterday in an oversubscribed secondary offering in which the Honolulu-based company sold 5 million shares at $23 apiece.

Morgan Stanley & Co., lead manager of the offering, called it the “;best-executed deal”; in the United States over the last two months since the $23 price obtained was down just 11 percent from yesterday's closing price of $25.87. Market discounts on secondary offerings have been running recently at about 15 percent to 20 percent below the stock price, Morgan Stanley said.

HEI, operator of the state's dominant electric utility and the owner of American Savings Bank, said it intends to use the net proceeds from the sale to repay its outstanding short-term debt and to make loans to subsidiary Hawaiian Electric Co. so that HECO can repay a portion of its outstanding commercial paper borrowings.

Spokeswoman Suzy Hollinger of HEI said the company eventually wants to use the proceeds to help finance capital expenditures at the utility.

  Goldman, Sachs & Co., Robert W. Baird and D.A. Davidson & Co.'s were co-managers of the offering, which initially was seeking to sell 4.25 million shares.

Pasha Hawaii lowers fuel fee

Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines is reducing its fuel surcharge 4.5 percentage points to 12.5 percent from 17 percent on Sunday, according to General Manager Reggie Maldonado.

Last Sunday, rivals Matson Navigation Co. and Horizon Lines Inc. both lowered their fuel surcharges by 4.5 percentage points to 15 percent from 19.5 percent for shipments between Hawaii and the mainland.

It was the sixth consecutive time the ocean carriers cut their fuel surcharge in response to declining oil prices.

NATION

Blockbuster to sell concert tickets

SAN FRANCISCO >> Blockbuster Inc. will begin selling concert tickets at about 500 of its video rental stores, bolstering its effort to create a one-stop shop for entertainment.

Under a three-year agreement announced yesterday, Blockbuster's stores next month will become the primary brick-and-mortar sales outlet for music concerts staged by promoter Live Nation Inc. in the United States.

Dallas-based Blockbuster will supplant a hodgepodge of department stores, supermarkets and other retailers that Live Nation had been relying upon as part of an unraveling partnership with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.

Beverly Hills-based Live Nation is breaking away from Ticketmaster to build its own ticketing channel. Ticketmaster will continue to handle some of Live Nation's sales until contracts covering several concert venues expire.

Kosher meatpacker to reopen

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa » A bankruptcy court in New York has approved funding that will allow the reopening of a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids.

The court on Monday approved a $2.5 million advance from First Bank Business Capital of St. Louis to Agriprocessors Inc. of Postville, Iowa, said Joseph Sarachek, a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee.

The money will allow Agriprocessors to resume the processing of its inventory of about 750,000 chickens through Jan. 9. Production could begin this week, Sarachek said.

Rocket firm gets space tourist

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. » A Danish adventurer is first in line to ride aboard a privately funded, two-seat rocket ship designed by a California rocket maker to fly about 37 miles above Earth.

Xcor Aerospace said yesterday that Per Wimmer, an investment banker based in London, will plop down $95,000 to be the first passenger aboard Lynx, a space tourism vehicle designed to take off and land like an airplane.

Xcor has yet to set a date for its first flight, but Wimmer hopes it will come in 2011, after a series of test flights by the Mojave-based company. 

[ Taking notice ]

Promotions / New hires

» Prudential Locations has announced the following new hires:

* Jill Federizo was previously a paralegal for Bays, Deaver, Lung, Rose & Holma.

* Jon Mann has four years of residential real estate experience including single family homes and condominiums in Honolulu.

* Adam Page has more than 20 years of real estate experience including East Oahu Realty and Bradley Properties.

* Carlin Yamashita joins the company from Crescent Heights and Coldwell Banker.

* Doug Young joins the company from Premier Realty 2000 and Dower Realty.