Behind the Blinds at...
Central Pacific Bank
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
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Central Pacific stock falls;
Fitch cuts rating
By Dave Segal, Star-Bulletin
Central Pacific Financial Corp.'s stock lost more than 20 percent of its value yesterday as it continued to free-fall on the heels of last week's announcement that it lost $183.1 million in the third quarter and that it was anticipating enforcement action to be taken against it by federal and state regulators due to the bank's financial condition.
The parent of Central Pacific Bank received more bad news after the market closed. Fitch Ratings downgraded the long-term issuer default rating of the bank to "CCC" from "B," and Standard & Poor's said, effective Monday, it will replace Central Pacific in the SmallCap 600 Index with Compellent Technologies Inc., a network storage solution provider.
Bank officials did not return calls yesterday for comment.
Central Pacific's shares have given up more than half their value since the bank said Thursday its commercial real estate portfolio in the California and Hawaii markets continues to deteriorate and that it expects the economic conditions to persist through the coming quarters. The company also said it expects to enter into a formal agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions over the bank's need to address its asset quality, capital needs and liquidity.
Fitch said the downgrade of the bank's rating reflects the significant escalation of credit problems both in its California and Hawaii loan portfolios.
"While Fitch expected the company to endure increased credit stress in its Hawaii portfolio, as well as in its still-sizable exposure to California real estate, the recent level of deterioration exceeded Fitch's original projections," the agency said. "Credit deterioration, which is not expected to abate in the near term, has generated sizable losses and caused considerable erosion to the bank's capital position.
"Fitch believes that the company will continue to generate material losses, which will continue to erode capital and reduce the benefit of any potential capital augmentation."
Central Pacific Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Migita said Thursday the bank is exploring all options to raise additional capital, including a public offering and selling shares to private-equity investors.
"We're raising capital to meet the challenge in a difficult economic climate so we can navigate through this downturn and emerge as a stronger bank when the economy recovers," Migita said. "We think things on the mainland appear to be stabilizing somewhat, but the Hawaii economy traditionally has lagged the mainland, so until such time that the (Hawaii) unemployment level stops increasing (7.2 percent in September) and jobs are being created, I think we're going to be in for some challenging times here in Hawaii."
But Fitch said that the prospects for raising sufficient equity from external sources to absorb expected losses and meet enhanced regulatory capital requirements are limited.
Fitch said the bank is now in violation of existing regulatory agreements, which call for the bank to maintain enhanced capital levels that exceed the minimum regulatory requirements to be considered "well capitalized." Fitch said the bank no longer is maintaining a leverage ratio of 9 percent.
S&P, meanwhile, said it was replacing Central Pacific in the index because the company's market share had fallen below the minimum market capitalization of $35 million to remain in the index. The market cap necessary to be added to the index is currently $200 million.
Central Pacific's stock fell 21.3 percent, or 30 cents, to $1.11 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange after trading as low as $1.04. Its market cap is now $31.9 million.
Analyst Joseph Gladue of B. Riley also cut his rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy" and lowered his target price to $1.50 from $3.50, while analyst Robert Bohlen of Keefe, Bruyette and Wood maintained his rating on the stock at "market perform" but lowered his target price to $1 from $1.90.
Hawaii bank got U.S. help
after Inouye’s aide placed call
By Paul Kiel, Pro Publica
WASHINGTON — Sen. Daniel Inouye’s staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth.
The bank, Central Pacific Financial, was an unlikely candidate for a program designed by the Treasury Department to bolster healthy banks.
The firm’s losses were depleting its capital reserves. Its primary regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., already had decided that it didn’t meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal cases, according to agency documents.
Two weeks after the inquiry from Inouye’s office, Central Pacific announced that the Treasury would inject $135 million.
Many lawmakers have worked to help home-state banks get federal money since the Treasury announced in October that it would invest up to $250 billion in healthy financial firms. But the Inouye inquiry stands apart because of the senator’s ties to Central Pacific. While at least 33 senators own shares in banks that got federal aid, a review of financial disclosures and records obtained from regulatory agencies shows no other instance of the office of a senator intervening on behalf of a bank in which he owned shares.
Inouye, D-Hawaii, declined a request for an interview but acknowledged in a statement that an aide had called the FDIC to ask about Central Pacific’s application. Inouye said he was not attempting to influence the outcome. The statement did not address Inouye’s personal role in the inquiry, including whether he directed the aide to make the call or knew at the time that it had been made.
Even if Inouye were directly involved, it would not violate the rules the Senate sets for itself, experts said.
Both the FDIC and the Treasury said the decision was not affected by the involvement of Inouye’s office.
Inouye reported ownership of Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $700,000, some held by his wife, at the end of 2007. The shares represented at least two-thirds of Inouye’s total reported assets. Inouye has requested a delay in filing his annual financial disclosure for 2008, which was due this spring, and he declined to provide the current value of his investment. Since the end of 2007, the bank’s stock has lost 79 percent of its value.
Central Pacific was founded in 1954 by a group of World War II veterans including Inouye who were emerging leaders in Hawaii’s Japanese-American community.
“The time had come to fund a bank that could provide equitable service not only to the Japanese, but to all communities,” Inouye is quoted as saying in an exhibit in the lobby of one of the company’s Honolulu branches. Inouye, who became the bank’s first secretary, said that he initially invested $3,000, the minimum amount possible.
Central Pacific is Hawaii’s fourth-largest bank, holding about 15 percent of the state’s deposits. In recent years, it increasingly used the money to make loans in California, funding several large residential developments. By last year, the bank was facing the consequences of California’s collapsing housing market. In July, Central Pacific reported a quarterly loss of $146 million, matching its total profit in the previous three years.
In October, shortly after the government announced that it would invest billions of dollars in banks to spur new lending, Central Pacific submitted an application under the initiative, called the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.
The bank faced long odds. More than 1,600 banks submitted applications to the FDIC in the three months after the program was announced, according to a report by the FDIC’s inspector general’s office. The agency forwarded 408 applications to Treasury, which approved only 267, or roughly 16 percent of the total.
Central Pacific’s situation was even bleaker because it was in trouble with the FDIC. Regulators had raised concerns about the bank earlier in the year. The bank would soon sign an agreement with its state regulator and the FDIC requiring it to raise an additional $40 million in capital and to improve its management practices.
After the bank applied for bailout funds, weeks passed. Andrew Rosen, a spokesman for Central Pacific, said that regulators had told the bank that the process would take “some time” because of the glut of applications.
In late November, still waiting for an answer, the bank’s government-affairs officer called Inouye’s office to ask that it check on the status of the application, according to Rosen. (Rosen said in an initial interview that the bank had not contacted Inouye’s office about the application. After Inouye was contacted for this story, Rosen said that he’d been mistaken, that the bank had called Inouye’s office.)
One day after the bank’s request, an Inouye aide called the FDIC’s regional office in San Francisco, which regulates Central Pacific. Inouye said in a statement that the staffer, Van Luong, “simply left a voicemail message seeking to clarify whether Central Pacific Bank’s application for TARP funds had actually been received by the FDIC.” The statement said that the bank was soon notified that the application had been received, “and that closed the matter.”
This single phone call was the entire extent of my staff’s contact with regard to Central Pacific Bank, to any outside agency,” Inouye said.
Internal FDIC e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Luong’s question was referred from San Francisco to FDIC headquarters in Washington. A few days later, Alice Goodman, who heads the FDIC’s office of legislative affairs — and whose office is typically the point of contact for congressional inquiries — called Luong to say that the application “was still under process.”
The internal e-mails show that the application had been forwarded to an inter-agency council headed by the Treasury Department that reviews cases in which a bank did not meet the criteria for a federal investment. Those criteria require banks to demonstrate their viability without the benefit of federal funding.
Shortly after the Inouye staffer’s phone call, the council approved Central Pacific’s application.
So far, more than 600 banks have received federal investments. While some recipients have started to repay aid, the Obama administration announced this spring that it would continue to accept applications from community banks until November. The crush of calls from Capitol Hill on behalf of specific applicants led the Treasury to announce earlier year that it would start releasing a weekly list of congressional inquiries. It has yet to do so.
The question of what role members of Congress have played in influencing the Treasury’s decisions is under review by the special inspector general appointed to oversee the financial rescue program. A spokesman for the special inspector general said a report is expected later this summer.
Such contacts by members and their staff do not violate the rules Congress has established to govern itself. “Congress has never been willing to adopt strong conflict-of-interest rules for its members, but for the most part, has left it up to each member to decide for themselves whether they have a potential conflict of interest,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a watchdog group.
The most similar known case comes from the House. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., arranged a meeting between regulators and OneUnited of Massachusetts, a bank in which her husband held shares. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who did not own shares in the company, subsequently inserted language into the bailout bill that effectively directed the Treasury to give special consideration to that bank.
The report by the FDIC inspector general found that 26 of the 408 companies whose applications were sent to the Treasury faced enforcement actions as severe as those against Central Pacific. Because the FDIC inspector general did not name these 26 banks, it is unclear how many ultimately won the Treasury’s approval. Nor is it clear whether any other bank used the Treasury money — as Central Pacific did — to address a capital shortfall identified by regulators.
Several financial analysts said they know of no other instances in which Treasury money was used this way. But they said it was impossible to be sure because banks are not required to disclose such regulatory actions, for instance those requiring that firms raise additional capital. Central Pacific had made this disclosure voluntarily.
Andrew Gray, an FDIC spokesman, said the Central Pacific decision was not unique, but he declined to name other banks, citing a policy against commenting on specific institutions.
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
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FROM: Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
TO: "President Barack Obama" <president@whitehouse.gov>, "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder" <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>, "Judge David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Judge Barry M. Kurren" <tammy_kimura@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Securities & Exchange Commission Enforcement Division" <enforcement@sec.gov>, "U.S. Treasury Dept. Office of Inspector General" <hotline@oig.treas.gov>, "Office of Inspector General US Dept of Justice" <oig.hotline@usdoj.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Judge Robert Faris" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "SEC Office of The Inspector General" <oig@sec.gov>, "Hawaii State Bar Association" <info@hsba.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Mark Bennett" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "American Arbitration Association" <webcase@adr.org>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Benjamin J. Cayetano" <bjcayetano@aol.com>, "Lokelani Lindsey" <lindseyl001@hawaii.rr.com>, "ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "David Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "Ian Lind" <diary@ilind.net>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Jack Cashill" <JCashill@aol.com>, "Marshall Chriswell" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Laser Haas" <laserhaas@msn.com>, "Lucy Komisar" <lkomisar@msn.com>, "Democrats.com" <activist@democrats.com>, "Debra Sweet" <debrasweet@worldcantwait.org>, "Jane Kirtley" <kirt001@umn.edu>, "John Jubinsky" <Jube@tghawaii.com>, "Yamil Berard" <yberard@star-telegram.com>, "Global Exchange" <communications@globalexchange.org>, "William K. Black" <blackw@umkc.edu>, "Carole Williams" <cjwms@up.net>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "Human Rights in China" <hrichina@hrichina.org>, "Michelle Malkin" <writemalkin@gmail.com>, "Phil J. Berg" <philjberg@obamacrimes.com>, "Amnesty International U.S.A." <aimember@aiusa.org>, "Michael Moore" <bailout@michaelmoore.com>, "California Anti-SLAPP Project" <info@casp.net>, "Thomas Fitton" <info@judicialwatch.org>, "Ron Branson" <VictoryUSA@jail4judges.org>, "ACLU of Kentucky" <info@aclu-ky.org>, "ACLU Online" <ACLUOnline@aclu.org>, "Louanne Kam" <lokam@ksbe.edu>
RE: “HAWAII BANK GOT U.S. HELP AFTER INOUYE’S AIDE PLACED CALL” - (An Exhibit in CV05-00030 - U S Dept of Justice vs Harmon)
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Trustee Farmer, Mr. Guttman, Ms. Neustadter, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge David Ezra, and All Concerned:
I am adding the referenced Exhibit as it directly relates to this lawsuit which violates my Constitutional Rights of Free Speech and a Fair Trial, and Federal and State Anti-SLAPP statutes.
Mr. Farmer and Mr. Guttman, in spite of all this factual evidence (not just "political opinions" or "conspiracy theories" as you have previously alleged), I am again asking that we attempt to reach a global settlement of this matter through confidential negotiation or mediation rather than continuing these costly and seemingly-endless court proceedings.
However, if you, and your insurance carriers, are still not willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, then I ask that you perform your mandated review of this new Exhibit in accordance with Judge Ezra's Order, and advise me, whether or not, you find it contains any so-called "protected subject matter", and whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.
I respectfully request your immediate reply. If I do not receive a response from you or your insurance carrier within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "PSM" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Additional References:
http://www.kycbs.net/Apartheid-Hawaii.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/BH-CHRON-88-96.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/BH-CHRON-97-99.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/BH-Settlement-Chronology.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-OUST-vs-Harmon.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/HarmonArbitration.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Lost-Generations.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-in-Paradise.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/SLAPP.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Whistler.htm
http://whistlersongs.blogspot.com
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=912950374
http://www.voy.com/129276/1412.html
Central Pacific Bank gets $135 million from federal government's bailout
By Rick Daysog, Advertiser Staff Writer
The parent of Central Pacific Bank will receive $135 million from the federal government’s bank bailout program.
Central Pacific Financial Corp. said today that it received preliminary approval to participate in the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Purchase program.
Central Pacific reported a net loss of $146.3 million during its second quarter after the company wrote down a large portion of its loans to California homebuilders hard-hit by the subprime lending crisis.
The company returned to profitability during the third quarter with a $3 million net profit.
“This capital will further strengthen the fundamentals of our bank and provide additional resources to support our commercial and retail customers here in Hawaii,” said Ron Migita, Central Pacific’s president and CEO.
In the deal, Central Pacific said it will issue $135 million in senior preferred stock to the Treasury Department (aka US Taxpayers). The Treasury Department will receive warrants to purchase another $20 million in the company’s common stock.
Shares of Central Pacific dipped $1.07 this afternoon to $11.76 on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081209/BREAKING03/81209052
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CENTRAL PACIFIC BANK CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS - 2008 CYCLE
Political Candidates Receiving Contributions/Support in the '08 Election
Cycle from
CENTRAL PACIFIC BANK FED PAC (IKA CPB PAC- FED)
Candidate Name Office Party State District Primary/
General $ Dollar Amount / Date
ABERCROMBIE, NEIL House of Reps Democrat HI 01 G $2,300 03/27/2008
ABERCROMBIE, NEIL House of Reps Democrat HI 01 P $2,300 04/30/2007
AKAKA, DANIEL KAHIKINA Senate Democrat HI -- P $2,000 05/27/2007
HIRONO, MAZIE MRS. House of Reps Democrat HI 02 G $300 06/30/2008
HIRONO, MAZIE MRS. House of Reps Democrat HI 02 P $300 06/30/2008
HIRONO, MAZIE MRS. House of Reps Democrat HI 02 G $2,000 03/27/2008
HIRONO, MAZIE MRS. House of Reps Democrat HI 02 P $2,000 10/22/2007
INOUYE, DANIEL K Senate Democrat HI -- G $2,000 07/31/2007
INOUYE, DANIEL K Senate Democrat HI -- P $2,000 07/31/2007
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The Ripple Effect
What seemed at first a little ripple out here in the middle of the sea could have the potential to effect the whole country if people let it happen.
The ripple effect is one way we, the people of Hawaii, can attempt to tell the rest of the country about the way the Asian influenced financial world of Hawaii could cost you and your children every penny in your bank.
Hawaii’s political powerbrokers led by Hawaii (D) Senator Dan Inouye have been very busy manipulating the financial world from Wall Street to the White House. Inouye knew Wall Street could be had if he were able to get a big powerhouse brokerage firm like “Goldman Sachs” to make a market for one or two of his big Asian banker friends, like Mochtar Riady’s Lippo Group (who was the center of the “Chinagate” investigation) and his brother-in-law Mumin Ala Gundawun, who controls Xiamen International Bank. Other Chinese Indonesians like Atang Latief and his former son-in-law Sukarman Sukamto played a big role in the “high finance” world that has dominated Hawaii and Hawaii politics for decades. Latief, for example, was credited with controlling 10 offshore banks in Hong Kong.
The $6 billion Kamehameha Schools Trust provided the financial “brick and mortar” used to build the bridge that would span the gap between Asia and U.S. capital markets. The Democratic Party controlled Kamehameha Schools Trust spent $500 million to purchase 10% of Goldman Sachs stock.
Central Pacific Bank (CPB) is recognized as Hawaii’s local Japanese bank. Its Chairman, lawyer-politician Sakae Takahashi, was also the head of the failed industrial bank, Manoa Finance. By 1983, 9 of 20 Industrial banks in Hawaii failed costing taxpayers $29 million. That’s when the Hawaii Democratic machine appointed Senator Dan Inouye’s aide, Ms Donna Tanoue, as the Hawaii Bank Examiner. She white-washed the 1983-5 Hawaii bank scandal by commenting, to news reports of a run on one state’s industrial banks saying that that couldn’t happen in Hawaii. That comment was countered by a local banker who said that the reason it wouldn’t happen here is that it already did. Senator Inouye’s most valuable asset is $500,000 worth of CPB stock. CPB is the Hawaii affiliate of Sumitomo Bank of Japan. Sumitomo owns approximately 10% of Goldman Sachs. It is interesting to note that when the value of Goldman Sachs stock increased after they went public; the fortunes of the affiliates likewise increased. Kamehameha Schools original $500 million investment tripled.
In 1993, $10 million of the Kamehameha Schools Trust funds were conveniently appropriated to buy Goldman Sachs stock held by Robert Rubin and this was done so that Goldman Sachs, co-director Rubin, could be appointed as President Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury. The move was made to remove any financial link between Rubin and Goldman Sachs. There are numerous reasons why this was done, but the most obvious reason is that when Goldman Sachs went public a lot of people stood to make money; and, if the Secretary of the Treasury owned stock in the company that could be viewed by some as a conflict of interest; based on securities laws regarding insider-trading.
Goldman Sachs was the biggest privately held partnership on Wall Street and, as such, they were in the position to “make a market” for companies that wanted to be listed on the N.Y. stock exchange. Kamehameha Schools’ lead investment trustee, Henry Peters, stated that they were going to put Xiamen International Bank on the N.Y. stock exchange. This was a plan to create a conduit allowing the American public’s capital to flow through to their business partners in Asia, in some cases subsidizing a communist regime. The Clinton appointment of Rubin as Secretary Treasurer was the other link to Hawaii’s financial and banking world.
If the media coverage of “Chinagate” is correct, and the lingering question is whether or not illegal foreign monies were contributed to the Clinton / Gore Presidential campaign of ’96 and why, this may be the answer.
FBI Investigates Hawaii Democratic Party
According to news reports, Nora and Eugene Lum were dispatched by the Hawaii Democratic Party to meet with Bill Clinton. The purpose of the visit was to seek the Presidential candidates help in pulling the plug on an FBI investigation of Hawaii’s (D) Governor John Waihee. The Lums admitted to FBI investigators looking into allegations that arose during the “Chinagate” investigation that after Clinton was elected, Webster Hubbell (3rd man in the Justice Dept. during the early days of the Clinton administration) pulled the plug.
The Pebble
The pebble is not made of stone; this pebble is weighted by the effects that the losses of one bank can cause other banks that are linked financially by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The pebble is actually two banks, Pacific Century, formerly known as Bank of Hawaii and BancWest which is the former 1st Hawaiian Bank. The financial problems of the two banks are based on loan losses and other yet to be disclosed financial problems. One area of the banks operations that have recently come under attack is the bank’s corporate trust fund division. Trust fund beneficiaries claim the banks are loosing money not making money for their family trust funds.
The beneficiaries also claim the banks are not managing their properties in a manner that one would expect them to. They cite questionable relationships between bank trust employees and big, politically connected Asian companies, and the way they have affected their equity. If this trend were to continue and become status quo across the country, than people should beware of the fall-out.
The Clinton / Gore link to Hawaii’s bank scandal surfaced in the news in 1999. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that people should be aware of the fact that President Clinton recommended the appointment of Ms Donna Tanoue to the powerful position of chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Her appointment comes at a time when Hawaii’s two big banks are expanding throughout the Pacific-Rim, Asia and the western part of the U.S.
The FDIC is the federal agency that provides the over-view during a banks expansion process. That means the FDIC is supposed to make sure one bank has the financial capacity to buy out another bank. Hawaii’s politically connected banking industry has continually worked to lesson the standards they set for the banks in Hawaii. That makes it easier for the lawyer politicians to protect their clients the banks.
All of Hawaii’s Democratic Party leadership are integrally linked to Hawaii’s two big banks. Hawaii’s former (D) Governor George Ariyoshi is one example of this trend. His connections with the big banks here in Hawaii and Asia began when he was appointed as the first Asian to serve on the board of directors of Bishop Bank, which would become 1st Hawaiian Bank.
In 1970, just before he ran and was elected as the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, Ariyoshi, and other high ranking fellow Democratic Party legislators Sakae Takahashi and John Ushijima and others killed a Bank Examiner Bill which would have created more stringent guidelines for the banking industry here in Hawaii. This is the same tactic Ms Tanoue has implemented during her tenure as the Chairman of the FDIC. During her tenure, the FDIC has lost money because banks have failed, and the reason cited by many is the lessening of standards of the FDIC.
There is one other interesting aspect of the Clinton / Gore link to the Hawaii bank scandal that is unfolding. It revolves around the fact that the local Democratic Party would not be able to be a part of this “high stakes” international financial game if they did not control the assets of the Hawaiian people.
Ripping-off the Hawaiians
Hawaii’s (D) Senator Daniel Akaka led by (D) Senator Daniel Inouye has introduced a Bill (S. 2899 and HR 4904) designed to allow the Hawaii Democratic Party to maintain control of the vast fortunes of the Hawaiian people so that they can be used to further their own schemes. The Bill was drafted by the powerful Washington D.C. law firm of Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson Hand and the head of their Hawaii office, former (D) Governor John Waihee.
I am talking about the so-called Akaka Bill. This brainless piece of Lawyer Trash was designed by Dan Inouye. Lets face it, he is not out to help the Hawaiians. He’s out to help his friends in Japan and China, and his Bill is no more than a cleverly devised plan to maintain control of Hawaiian resources and revenues. The accumulated assets of the Hawaiian people could possibly rank them amongst, the richest people of the world; right along side of the Kuwaitis, and other people whose natural resource have become valuable according to the economics of today’s world. The availability of natural energy resources alone could realistically provide the funding sources for start-up businesses throughout the state.
The point is that Hawaiians don’t need other revenue sources or credit to prevail. The revenue from the resources that the State has already identified will provide all of the capital that new businesses like farms or ranches, shops and services and all the myriad ideas that are available to people today require.
The Bill would make Hawaiians wards of the Federal government like American Indians under a “nation within a nation” status. The authors of the Bill would have you think that only they have the ability to determine what is best for you. Their rules, their regulations and their ability to conform. If one were to really analyze the situation, you would realize that they are wrong and that they have created a financial catastrophe. A battlefield of broken families, homes, the credibility of our ordinary people and our lives. We are not stupid people we understand the difference between theft and giving. The powers that be are attempting to cloud the waters again.
The Akaka Bill positions the United States in the role of stewards of the Hawaiian nation, What the bill does not say, is that the local Democratic machine will be emphasizing a local Asian based attitude toward the rules regulation that exist today, and conformity versus Hawaiian communal value. The Bill suggest that they are better equipped to manage change, but a system that mistakes managing change with muffling it engages in illusion.
The result is to allow irresistible pressures to build to disastrous proportions; this for the people of the United States is the reality check as we move into the new millennium.
The thoughts and message above must be transmitted to the media. I am trying to get a couple of hundred people together to get this idea across to the media and the people who bank in the 1,100 banks, savings and loans and credit unions that are insured by the FDIC. This affects every man, women and child who deposit their money in every bank across the country....
Click here for The Hawaiian Banks Link
Hawaii CEOs average $2.3M in pay
By Rick Daysog, Advertiser Staff Writer
It's getting more expensive to send off a CEO than to keep one.
The abrupt resignations of the top executives of Central Pacific Financial Corp. and Hawaiian Telcom Inc. this year is going to cost those companies hundreds of thousand of dollars more than what they paid the CEOs last year.
Despite losing $5.8 million last year because of problem loans to California homebuilders, Central Pacific said it will pay CEO Clint Arnoldus $5 million, or more than five times his 2007 pay of $983,149, when he retires at year's end.
Hawaiian Telcom Inc. gave ousted CEO Michael Ruley a $1.2 million severance package, which includes $20,000 for personal travel, $22,000 for his family's health coverage and reimbursement of up to 6 percent for the real estate broker commission on the sale of his Kahala home. During Ruley's tenure, the company lost tens of millions of dollars and thousands of residential telephone customers, and is being investigated by the state Public Utilities Commission for poor service.
"This has nothing to do with the circumstances of their leaving," said Linda Lampkin, research director with ERI Economic Research Institute, which conducts executive pay and cost-of-living studies for employers. "Even though they may be leaving on less than ideal situations, the companies are bound by what the executives' contracts say."
The severance packages for Ruley and Arnoldus were among the key highlights of an Advertiser review of the pay policies of Hawai'i's publicly traded companies. The study, based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Hawai'i's eight largest companies, found that the average pay for a local CEO rose nearly 4.5 percent to $2.3 million last year from $2.2 million in 2006.
The 2007 average was equivalent to $6,525 per day and is more than 29 times the state's median household income.
Five of the 10 CEOs in this year's survey received pay raises but just two received a bonus last year. The bulk of the pay increases came in the form of stock options and other forms of compensation that aim to tie the executives' pay to company performance.
To be sure, the state's top bosses earned far less than their Mainland counterparts. According to ERI, CEOs of the nation's largest publicly traded companies saw their compensation increase by 20.5 percent last year to $18.8 million. The pay increase came as the companies' revenues grew by just 2.8 percent, ERI said.
For the third year in a row, Alexander & Baldwin's Allen Doane was the highest paid executive in Hawai'i, with a pay package of $8.6 million. That was up about 12.4 percent from his 2006 pay of $7.6 million.
Most of Doane's increase was performance-based as the company's stock price increased 19 percent and its earnings jumped 16 percent. A&B added that it returned $81 million to its shareholders last year in the form of dividends and stock buybacks.
Doane was followed by David Cole, CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose 2007 pay more than doubled to $4.1 million. In its proxy statement, Maui Pine said its board gave Cole more than a $1 million to compensate him for the loss in value of his stock options.
Most companies would not comment on their CEO's pay and referred The Advertiser to filings with the SEC. Here's a snapshot of what those filings say:
Bank of Hawaii Corp. Chief Executive Allan Landon took home $2.6 million last year, which was up 15.9 percent from the previous year. Under Landon's stewardship, the company enjoyed healthy growth increase and benefited from its cost-cutting efforts.
Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.'s CEO Constance Lau's 2007 compensation fell 53.7 percent to $1.7 million. But her 2006 package was skewed by a $2.2 million, one-time gain she received when she transferred her pension plan from HEI's American Saving Bank subsidiary to the parent company's plan.
Morton Kinzler, Barnwell Industries Inc.'s longtime CEO, saw his pay decline by 21.2 percent to $1.2 million while Dustin Shindo, chief executive of startup Hoku Scientific Inc., earned $745,462, which represents a 41.2 percent raise from the previous year.
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. CEO Mark Dunkerley saw his pay decrease by 5.8 percent to $2.3 million in a year in which Hawaiian won an $80 million judgment against go! airlines and signed a $4.4 billion deal to acquire 24 Airbus wide-body jets over the next 15 years.
CB Bankshares Uses Political Clout, Unusual Media Campaign to Thwart Hostile Takeover by Competitor
Legislation the Bank is Pushing Might Just Stop Hostile Takeover, But Would Punish Stockholders in All Hawaii Publicly Traded Companies; Send Wrong Message About State Being Open for Business, Critics Say
By Malia Zimmerman, Hawaii Reporter
When president and chief executive officer of City Bank Ron Migita spoke out for the first time about the hostile takeover attempt of parent company CB Bankshares by Central Pacific Financial Corporation, he accused his competitor of "disrupting the harmonious relationship" between the two banks.
"I can assure you, this is not how we do business in Hawaii," he said at an April 2003, press conference. "For someone like me, born and raised in Hawaii, we work on a cooperative basis. It’s not our culture to be hostile or strong-arm."
This curt statement by Migita was a warning of the wrath to be unleashed by Hawaii’s old boy Democrats in power for 40 years, on Central Pacific’s Chairman, CEO and President Clint Arnoldus, who they portray as an outsider who does not understand island ways.
Unfortunately, Migita was right -- Arnoldus, who took over Central Pacific Financial and Central Pacific Bank two years ago, did not understand the way business often is conducted in the 50th state. Migita, whose company, the fourth largest bank in Hawaii with $1.2 billion in deposits in 22 City Bank branches, is using all of its political clout to fend off what should be a debate over profit.
Central Pacific, the third-largest bank in Hawaii with $1.7 billion in deposits in its 25 branches, would control $2.9 billion or 14 percent of all state deposits should it be successful in acquiring CB Bankshares, the parent company of City Bank, for cash and stock currently valued at $300 million. Rather than sticking to finances however, directors of CB Bankshares are waging a strategic campaign of media and masterful political strategy that could not only thwart the takeover, but undermine all publicly traded companies in Hawaii by severely diluting the power of shareholders.
The problem is most of Hawaii’s media, public and politicians see nothing unusual about the exceptional tactics by CB Bankshares to spoil the takeover attempt. In fact, they view Central Pacific Bank as the big bad business primarily because of a well-crafted public relations campaign by CB Bankshares that portrays City Bank employees as victims and customers as getting a bad deal.
CB Bankshares also has brazenly used prominent politicians on their payroll to slow the hostile takeover attempt -- House Speaker Calvin Say, D-Kalihi, is a compensated City Bank trustee, and Senate Ways and Means Chair Brian Taniguchi, D-Manoa, is a City Bank attorney.
Although they deny it, these powerful Democrat lawmakers and their allies are using their clout to forward legislation that helps CB Bankshares directors and hurts all of Hawaii’s publicly traded corporations.
Companion bills SB 2435 and HB 2552 eliminate any obligation of the board to call a special meeting of shareholders to vote on a proposed acquisition of controlling interests in Hawaii public corporation. The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, whose Securities Commissioner Ryan Ushijima testified in opposition, says the legislation only allows for one takeover proposal to be entertained within any given 36-month period. "This interferes with what generally happens in the market because many takeover bids often involve the subsequent offering of higher prices to get enough shareholders to buy in," Ushijima said. "The law deprives the opportunity for shareholders to consider these subsequent bids and represents a dramatic governmental intervention in otherwise commonplace corporate takeover proceedings."
Especially intriguing to many observers is the way the CB Bankshares directors are fighting this battle. At least three of the City Bank board members, according to public record, including Say, former House Rep. Dwight Yoshimura, and Colbert Matsumoto, are board members of the Daihonzan Chozen-Ji/International Zen Dojo, a Zen Buddhist temple in the remote valley of Kalihi. Surrounded by a dense emerald forest, steep plush mountains, and fronted by black Buddhist statues on a vast plot of pebbles of the same color, some of Hawaii’s most influential Democrats congregate at the Dojo. Here high-ranking Democrat politicians and well-known political strategists practice a combination of meditation, martial arts and political strategy. Many of the high ranking City Bank officials also are known to frequent the Dojo, according to those who have been guests on the property by invitation only.
One of Hawaii’s most brilliant political strategists, Norma Wong, also is a director of the Dojo. More importantly, she is an officer of Pacific Fielding Center, the company that conducted City Bank’s controversial poll, which reported City Bank has the public’s sympathy in the hostile takeover bid. The integrity of that poll is important as it is being used to lobby lawmakers, the governor, her administrators and the media, to show the public supports City Bank and is opposed to the hostile takeover attempt. (See the full report in a SEC filing made by CB Bankshares on its Web site).
Wong and Harry Mattson are the only two officers listed under Pacific Fielding Center's public filing and other political strategy and polling companies in Hawaii and share an office in Honolulu. Together Wong and Mattson, who also has frequented the Dojo, have acted as consultants for some of Hawaii’s most prominent politicians including Harris, former Gov. John Waihee and former Honolulu council member and candidate for Honolulu Mayor Duke Bainum.
The two have been questioned extensively by the Honolulu City Prosecutor in connection with the investigation into the alleged money laundering scheme by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris’ campaign and administration that involves several of Hawaii's businesses. Money reportedly flowed from they mayor’s campaign to one of Mattson’s companies and then on to another woman, Lisa Otsuka, 33, who has been arrested on a number of theft charges and also has been reportedly under investigation by the city prosecutor for a possible related money laundering scheme. Otsuka also was arrested last year for promoting prostitution, according to Honolulu Police records.
Democrats interviewed for this story who were allowed to visit the grounds say the Dojo connection to the CB Bankshares vs. Central Pacific Bank story is important because it lays out the philosophy and connections of the people involved. Loyal followers of the Dojo view themselves almost as ancient Asian warriors fighting to retain power and control in Hawaii, the Democrat visitors say, who maintain along with other observers that CB Bankshares is a current battle more about retaining their power than what benefits the shareholders, other companies or Hawaii’s economy.
Ironically Hawaii’s publicly traded corporations potentially at risk have so far been unwilling to get involved. The governor’s cabinet and some Republican lawmakers have stood alone in opposition at the Legislature. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle is opposed to interfering with the hostile takeover attempt, despite CB Bankshares’ public relations campaign enthusiastically encouraging its customers and employees to ask her to take action.
To expect any different from Lingle would be to assume that she would break her promise to voters made when she was elected governor in 2002 as the first Republican in 40 years. What she set out to accomplish is significant -- boost business and economy, rid the State government of its notorious corruption and waste, and restore the public trust.
Business in Hawaii has traditionally had to overcome the fourth highest overall tax burden, 17,000 pages of rules and regulations, burdensome mandates, and a necessity to "pay to play" with politicians for government contracts. As the Small Business Survival Index documents, Hawaii is the most hostile place to operate a business in America.
State Financial Institutions Commissioner Nick Griffin announced last week he will not disapprove of the proposed acquisition, despite the more than 100 City Bank supporters who testified in opposition at a December 2003 hearing. His decision comes after the Federal Reserve Board gave its blessing. Now the fate of the two banks will be made by shareholders of both companies and the courts, unless the CB Bankshares’ directors are successful in stopping the merger with this legislation.
Shareholders on both sides say there will be more turmoil should the legislation pass, including lawsuits against the CB Bankshares directors and lawmakers and shareholders pulling capital from Hawaii's publicly traded corporations, and be a major step backward in the governor’s plan to "open Hawaii for business."
Reach Malia Zimmerman, president and editor of Hawaii Reporter, via email at: mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com
Hawaii’s Top 250 Companies
New To The List: Whoa, Savio!
Hawaiian Island Homes' debut is marked by acrimony
By Kelli Abe Trifonovitch, Hawaii Business Magazine
Any interview that focuses on Peter Savio's new company, Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd., will soon focus on another Top 250 company, Central Pacific Bank. Says Savio: "They're malicious. They're vicious. I am going to become a stockholder in Central Pacific Bank. I am going to reform that institution. Their mistake was they stomped me. They didn't kill me. I'm coming back. I'm going to have fun with them."
Go back to the year 2001 . Savio Inc., a holding company for eight real estate sales and development companies, was No. 56 on the Top 250, with $134.6 million in 2000 gross sales. But in 2001, Savio Inc. filed for Chapter 7 liquidation, and Peter Savio and his wife filed for personal bankruptcy protection. Savio says he was forced into the bankruptcies because CPB gave him just five days to move from his second-floor offices at 931 University Ave. Savio says he had been in a workout plan with a number of lenders after he started experiencing cash-flow problems in the mid-1990s. But CPB forced his hand.
"The only way to stop them was, I had to file for personal bankruptcy. So to save my employees and everything else, I filed for personal bankruptcy - one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make. But I was really pissed at Central Pacific Bank for doing that," he says.
"It was tough," he adds. "Basically I lost everything. Lost my house. Lost everything. Had to basically come back from nothing."
Today, Savio is more than back. His real estate company, Hawaiian Island Homes Ltd., lists 2002 gross sales of $177 million. Its office is downstairs in the same building that Savio Inc.'s once was. And the company is No. 27, ahead of CPB Inc. (No. 49), something Savio will rejoice to read. Savio says, "I've decided that my goal is to beat them in the Top 250. … just so we can say, 'Nannynannybooboo!'"
That's not all. "My short-term and my long-term goal is to reform Central Pacific Bank," Savio says. "I think I'm going to buy the bank."
Ann Takiguchi, Central Pacific Financial's communications officer, says, "We made every effort to work with Mr. Savio, and it is unfortunate that he is blaming us for his situation. Out of respect for our customers' privacy, we have no further comment. As a matter of bank policy, we don't comment on the affairs of our customers."
Bankruptcy court filings show that Central Pacific Bank claimed that Savio Inc. owed it about $1.5 million when Savio filed for bankruptcy in 2001. The Internal Revenue Service and Pitney Bowes Credit Corp. also listed claims of about $2,000 each.
The court-appointed trustee for Savio Inc.'s bankruptcy case, attorney Jim Nicholson, says the only unencumbered asset of the estate, a unit in the Diamond Head Beach apartment building, was sold for $375,000 in June 2003.
Gross sales for Savio's other new company, Hawaiian Island Development, were not reported for this year's Top 250, so one thing is for sure: Next year, he'll be back. Says Savio: "We're going to set up a new holding company called, 'I Hate CPB.' No, my attorney said I couldn't do that. I have a warped sense of humor, OK? But anyway, the new holding company is going to be Ohia Holdings."
Knowing Savio, there is marked symbolism in that choice. After all, the Ohia tree can be found growing in the middle of old lava flows.
Business Briefs
Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
On the board
>> Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii has elected the following new directors: Dean Hirata, City Bank executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer; Neal Kanda, Central Pacific Bank executive vice president and chief financial officer; Eric Martinson, MN Capital Partners partner; Colbert Matsumoto, Island Insurance Co. chairman; Sanford Murata, Kamehameha Schools commercial assets division director; Joanne Ninomiya, KIKU-TV manager and JN Productions Inc. owner and president; Brian C. Nishida, BC&G International president; Miki Okumura, Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel executive vice president; Raymond Ono, First Hawaiian Bank executive vice president and segment manager; Al Tomonari, Neiman Marcus Hawaii general manager; and Donna Tanoue, Bank of Hawaii vice chairman and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation past chairman. Neighbor Island board representatives are: Tommy Hirano, Stationers' Corporation of Hawaii, Big Island; Charles Kawakami, Big Save Inc. president, Kauai; and Yuki Lei Sugimura, former economic development specialist for the Maui Mayor's Office.
May 13, 2003
CB rejects new deal
But in a memo from 2000, the top
exec of CB Bancshares' espoused the
benefits of a merger with Central Pacific
By Tim Ruel, Star-Bulletin
City Bank's top executive was touting the benefits of a three-way merger with Central Pacific Bank and a local insurance company in 2000, in stark contrast to City Bank's more recent opposition to a two-way merger with Central Pacific.
The board of CB Bancshares Inc., parent company of City Bank, unanimously rejected a second hostile takeover proposal by Central Pacific Bank yesterday, saying the offer was inadequate and not much different from the first proposal.
But three years ago, City Bank and Island Holdings Inc. talked about merging with Central Pacific Bank. The discussion was the result of a 1999 change in federal law allowing banks to join forces with insurance companies, said Colbert Matsumoto, president of Island Holdings.
A January 2000 memo from Ronald Migita, president and chief executive of CB Bancshares, which went to Central Pacific Bank, said a merger would create a more competitive and viable financial services company. Many of the reasons appear to contradict recent statements by City Bank's parent company that the merger would hurt employees and the Hawaii community.
The memo was leaked to the media yesterday by a source close to Central Pacific Financial.
In the memo, Migita said a benefit of the merger would be reduced costs through consolidation of back-office functions and closure of overlapping bank branches. Central Pacific Bank, which was going through a restructuring at the time, rejected the merger.
More recently, in rejecting a merger proposal by Central Pacific Bank, City Bank's parent company said more than 200 employees would be laid off, and job losses would create hardships for employees and their families.
Wayne Miyao, a spokesman for City Bank, said the bank's previous statements shouldn't be compared with its more recent statements because the merger proposals are different and would have required the consent of all sides. He described the memo as a confidential communication.
"We're kind of disappointed Central Pacific has resorted to bringing up a dated and private correspondence that detracts from the current proposal that we feel is very inadequate," Miyao said. "It's our belief that the discussions were very informal and confidential, and there was no proposal, nothing concrete made."
Miyao said City Bank respected Central Pacific's decision to reject the merger, unlike Central Pacific's recent efforts to take its takeover offer directly to shareholders of CB Bancshares Inc. "We never resorted to a hostile takeover at that time," Miyao noted.
In the 2000 memo, Migita called for a merger in which Central Pacific's stock would be used as the stock of a new company, and that Central Pacific would be positioned as a "big brother" while CB Bancshares would be the "little brother." Central Pacific Bank, with 24 branches, is Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, while City Bank, with 21 branches, is fifth-largest.
"Times have changed," Matsumoto said.
Some things have changed since Migita wrote the pro-merger memo in January 2000. Notably, the stock of Central Pacific has increased substantially. On the date of Migita's memo, Jan. 5, 2000, Central Pacific's stock was worth $14.375 a share. Last week, when the City Bank board announced its rejection of the offer, Central Pacific's stock was worth $25.75 a share, a 79 percent increase.
The increased share price poses a risk for CB shareholders, CB's board said, since the shareholders would be paid 70 percent in stock in Central Pacific and 30 percent in cash. Since the stock is trading near a high, Central Pacific stock could fall. Last week, Central Pacific sweetened the deal to a combination of 65 percent stock and 35 percent cash, an offer that CB's board has also rejected.
Another thing that has changed since 2000 is that Migita wrote the memo shortly after the close of 1999, a year when CB's net income plummeted 96 percent to $306,000 from $8.4 million a year earlier.
More recently, in 2002, CB's net income performed far better, jumping 118 percent to a record $13.5 million from $6.2 million a year earlier.
Another difference is that the 2000 merger proposal by CB Bancshares called for a three-way merger with local insurance company Island Holdings Inc., which would have opened City Bank and Central Pacific Bank to the insurance business. Island Holdings is owned by the Tokioka family, and Lionel Tokioka is chairman of CB Bancshares Inc.
Yesterday, Central Pacific said the 2000 merger proposal was rejected in part because of CB Bancshares' "asset quality problems." Central Pacific also said merging with an insurance underwriting company was inconsistent with Central Pacific's business strategy.
Meanwhile, CB Bancshares derided Central Pacific's more recent merger proposal as a slight revision of Central Pacific's original April 15 offer to buy CB Bancshares. The new proposal would give CB Bancshares' shareholders the same amount for each share of their stock, approximately $69 a share, but would change the mix of stock and cash. The price represents a 52 percent premium over CB Bancshares' stock price on April 15.
Central Pacific criticized CB Bancshares today for its rejection of the new offer.
"CB Bancshares once again rejects an attractive offer with no explanation or support for its statement that the offer undervalues CB Bancshares," Central Pacific said. "It then adds insult to injury by persisting in a plan to hold a May 28 meeting that would deny the people who own their company a fair opportunity to consider whether this new offer should proceed."
Central Pacific, which said the new offer has made the May 28 special shareholders meeting moot, has asked CB Bancshares to push back the meeting date to June 19.
CB Bancshares rejected that logic yesterday, saying the new offer did nothing to address the board's concerns about the first offer. "We believe that Central Pacific's revised proposal is just shibai to try to postpone the date of the CB Bancshares special shareholders meeting," said Tokioka.
http://starbulletin.com/2003/05/13/business/story1.html
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CENTRAL PACIFIC BANK OFFICERS & DIRECTORS
http://www.snl.com/irweblinkx/od.aspx?iid=100213
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MORE TO COME
For now, you can see more of what’s going on behind the blinds at...
Behind the Blinds at American Savings Bank
British Petroleum: Buzzards in the Pipelines
The Carlyle Group: Birds that Drink from Cesspools
DIRTY MONEY, DIRTY POLITICS & BISHOP ESTATE
Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VI
The Hawaiian Insurance Companies
Investors Equity: Vultures in The Meadows
Marsh & McLennan: The Marsh Birds
Marsh & McLennan’s Mercer Consulting
Marsh & McLennan’s Putnam Investments
Office of the U.S. Trustee vs Harmon
The Power Vampires & The Ghost of Ken Lay
The Secret Lives of Duke and Dusty
The Silence of the Whistleblowers
Sukamto Sia: The Indonesian Connection
Vultures up to their beaks in Tesoro Petroleum
~ ~ ~
MORE OF THE CATBIRD’S FAVORITE LINKS
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Last Update November 3, 2009, by The Catbird