Trust might sell Goldman shares
By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kamehameha Schools is considering selling nearly half of its holdings in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — as much as 4 million shares in a deal valued at about $391 million at the Wall Street investment bank's current share price.
The sale would leave the charitable trust, Goldman's fourth-largest shareholder, with about 5.5 million shares, or a 1.1 percent stake in the New York-based firm, according to a filing this morning by Goldman with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"This is part of our diversification of our overall portfolio," Kekoa Paulsen, spokes-man for the trust, said today. "Once those shares are liquidated, that money would be redeployed into other investment classes."
Paulsen said a decision on whether to sell the shares should be made within the next week and will depend on market conditions.
The shares in Goldman are held by Kamehameha Activities Association, a nonprofit subsidiary of Kamehameha Schools created in 1998 to hold investments of the estate. The sale of shares back to Goldman may begin on or after May 8, according to the filing.
Kamehameha Schools, established in 1884 to educate native Hawaiian children, originally invested $500 million in Goldman starting in 1992. The trust made back nearly all of its investment in the Wall Street investment banking firm during the company's initial public offering in May 1999.
In the initial offering, Kamehameha Schools received about $477 million by selling 9 million Goldman shares, which represented nearly one-third of the estate's holding in the company at the time. The trust earned an additional $1.1 billion from a sale of 11 million shares last year.
In addition to Kamehameha Schools, Japan's Sumitomo Bank, which owns 14.7 million shares, may sell 6 million shares starting May 8.
Kamehameha Schools estimated expenses from the sale, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions, will be about $400,000.
The estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, an affiliate of Kamehameha, is joining the sale, the filing said.
Shares of Goldman Sachs closed at $95.66 today, down $2.03.
