Business briefs

Advertiser Staff

Three festivals given grants

The Hawai'i Tourism Authority has approved $150,000 in grants for three festivals.

The Big Island Festival — A Celebration of Diversity was awarded $75,000; $25,000 was awarded to the two-week Hawai'i Canoe Festival, which includes the Moloka'i-to-O'ahu canoe race in late September; and $50,000 was granted to the 9th annual Hawai'i International Jazz Festival, which includes four days of jazz with activities on Maui and O'ahu in July.

Kaua'i resort to split from chain

Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort on Kaua'i will break from the Holiday Inn brand and change its name when its five-year agreement with the nationwide chain ends July 8. The name of the newly independent resort will be Aloha Beach Resort Kaua'i. Ownership, management, staff, phone, fax and mailing address information will remain the same.

Rated a three-diamond resort by AAA, room rates at the new Aloha Beach Resort will stay in the $200-$400 range.

Hawaiian to buy 5.88M shares

Hawaiian Airlines announced yesterday the preliminary results of its offer to buy back 5.88 million shares at $4.25 per share.

Shareholders applied to sell 27.5 million shares. That means the airline will only buy back 21.32 percent of the shares offered. The final proration factor will be announced on or around July 9, the airline said.

Shares traded at $3.75 this afternoon, down 23 cents from the previous day's close.