The Chapter 11 filing "was necessary to address liquidity issues primarily related to unmanageable debt service obligations," said Gary Nickele, Amfac Hawaii president.

The company, former owner of the Liberty House chain, has been hobbled by losses in its agricultural operations. Those operations lost about $120 million since 1989, Nickele said.

"We attempted to make agricultural operations work in spite of insurmountable hurdles relating to commodity prices and high local operating costs," he said.

Amfac Hawaii is the latest incarnation of Amfac Inc. – once Hawai'i's largest corporation. That firm was acquired in late 1988 by JMB Realty Corp. of Chicago.

The company, which until 1996 employed almost 1,000 people, now has 135 individuals.

Current plans do not call for a reduction of the work force, other than that related to the shutdown of the Amfac-operated Kaua'i power plant later this year, the company said.