AMCON Distributing Co. of Omaha, Neb., said yesterday it has sold substantially all of the assets of Hawaiian Natural Water Co. Inc. to a newly formed investor group, Hawaiian Springs LLC.

The purchase price was $3.8 million, and Hawaiian Springs assumed operating and capital leases, AMCON said.

Pearl City-based Hawaiian Natural Water began bottling water in 1995 on the Big Island from a well on Mauna Loa.

"Historically HNWC has incurred significant operating losses, which have hampered earnings," Andrew Plummer, AMCON's acting chief financial officer, said in a statement.

"With this transaction, we will no longer have to absorb reported losses from this business, which totaled approximately $6.2 million before tax for all of fiscal 2005 and $1.6 million before tax for the nine months ended June 30, 2006."

AMCON is a wholesale distributor of consumer products, including beverages, candy, tobacco, groceries, food service, frozen and chilled foods, and health and beauty care products. It has distribution centers in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.