BUSINESS BRIEFS
Madison ends Hawaiian bid

Advertiser Staff

Madison 50 Air Partners LLC, a unit of New York-based investment banking firm Jefferies & Co., yesterday withdrew its effort to take over Hawaiian Airlines, leaving just two bidders, Ranch Capital LLC and Hawaiian Investment Partners Group LLC.

Ranch Capital has won the endorsement of the creditors committee and Hawaiian's bankruptcy trustee.

NFL, PGA tailor incentives here

The Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau has joined with the National Football League and the PGA Tour to offer customized corporate incentive packages for their events here, the HVCB said yesterday.

The NFL's Pro Bowl is held here in February. Dave Wintergrass, the NFL's senior director of special events, said groups can customize their incentive programs to experience Hawai'i, watch the game, and receive special access to private functions attended by players and team officials.

Hawai'i is a host each January for the start of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, which also end their schedules with tournaments here

Central Pacific No. 17 on list

US Banker magazine has ranked the parent company of Central Pacific Bank as the 17th best mid-tier banking company with publicly owned stock based on a three-year return on equity.

The August issue ranked 100 banks on how well a company uses capital to generate earnings. Central Pacific Financial Corp.'s return on equity averaged 19.4 percent from 2001 to 2003. The company has since merged with City Bank, which did not make the top 100.

US Banker considered banks with assets between $1 billion and $5.5 billion, and stock traded on any of the three major exchanges. That excluded bigger Hawai'i banks.