BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gas about to get a bit cheaper
Advertiser staff
The maximum wholesale price for regular gasoline on O'ahu next week is likely to fall 6 cents a gallon to $2.01, according to Advertiser calculations.
That price excludes taxes and a retail margin. The law caps wholesale prices but does not set limits on retail prices. The state will officially set next week's price cap today.
ASTON HOTELIER GETS $40.5M LOAN
Local hotelier André Tatibouet has obtained a $40.5 million loan to pay off a group of creditors in his personal bankruptcy case.
The founder of Aston Hotels & Resorts will use the loan primarily to pay off about $35 million of debts secured by his Coral Reef Hotel and finance a $7 million renovation of the 247-room Waikiki property scheduled to begin in mid-April.
Tatibouet still has roughly $30 million in creditor claims not secured by the hotel, and expects to file a plan to resolve those debts in the next couple of months and emerge from bankruptcy this year.
SNACK FIRM BUYS ICEE OF HAWAII
Icee of Hawaii has been acquired by J&J Snack Foods Corp., a New Jersey-based maker of snacks and frozen beverages.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Icee of Hawaii, headquartered in Waipahu, has annual sales of approximately $2.3 million.
J&J's main products are Minute Maid juice bars, Icee and Arctic Blast frozen beverages and SuperPretzels.
KHON LAYOFFS STILL TO COME
The new owners of KHON TV, the local Fox affiliate, said they will make layoff announcements in the next several weeks.
Montecito Broadcast Group confirmed that it will eliminate about 35 of the 111 positions at the local station.
Staffers had been bracing for layoffs as early as this week after Montecito and the Blackstone Group completed a $259 million purchase of KHON and three Mainland stations from Emmis Communications Corp. on Friday.
