HONOLULU--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2003--Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEX) today announced that South Maui Development LLC, a wholly-owned A&B affiliate, together with an affiliate of GolfBC Group, a Vancouver-based company, have completed their previously announced acquisition of the Shinwa Golf Group's Hawaii real estate assets. These assets include 270 acres of fully-zoned undeveloped residential and commercial land, and three golf courses, at the world-renowned Wailea Resort on Maui, and two golf courses and an undeveloped hotel site at the Kauai Lagoons Resort. The total purchase price for the assets was $131.5 million, with GolfBC acquiring the three golf courses and tennis center at Wailea, and the two golf courses, hotel site and developable lands at the Kauai Lagoons Resort.
"This acquisition is a significant transaction for A&B," said A&B President & CEO Allen Doane. "Wailea is one of the finest master planned resorts in the world, with over 2,500 hotel rooms, 1,750 residential units, three championship golf courses, and unparalled beaches. The 270 acres A&B is acquiring are some of the best fully-zoned lands available for development in the entire State, and represent eight to ten years of sales and development activity.
"This is, of course, a homecoming for A&B because our company was the original master-planner and developer of the Wailea Resort, beginning in the 1970s and continuing until A&B sold the resort to the Shinwa Golf Group in 1989. We are pleased to again step in as master developer of the remainder of Wailea and to finish what we started.
"We also are very pleased to have completed the acquisition with GolfBC -- an experienced developer and operator of championship golf courses and residential communities. A&B and GolfBC will work closely together to ensure that Wailea remains one of the world's preeminent resort communities," Doane added.
GolfBC is a golf investment and management business that is defining a higher standard of quality and consistency among premier golf destinations. "We look forward with great pleasure to working with the fine people, and world class facilities, at the Wailea and Kauai golf courses," said Caleb Chan, president of GolfBC. "We have long been great admirers of the Wailea and Kauai Lagoons resorts and we intend to enhance the golf experience at both properties."
A&B's landholdings include a total of over 90,000 acres in Hawaii, making it the state's fifth largest private landowner, and an income property portfolio comprising 5 million square feet of leasable space in 18 Mainland and 23 Hawaii office, industrial and retail properties. Besides focusing on the development and management of these core real estate holdings, in recent years A&B has embarked on a strategy of expanding beyond its historical land holdings in Hawaii. In addition to the Wailea acquisition, A&B has, in the past four years alone, announced 16 Hawaii real estate investments outside of its core landholdings, representing a total capital investment of nearly $300 million. A&B development projects are ongoing in Kahului and Kaanapali on Maui; in various locations on Oahu; in Poipu and Port Allen on Kauai; and in Kamuela on the Big Island.
A&B's major lines of business are ocean transportation (Matson Navigation Company, Inc., Matson Intermodal Systems, Inc.); property development and management (A&B Properties, Inc.); and food products (Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company, Kauai Coffee Company). Additional information about A&B may be found at its web site: www.alexanderbaldwin.com.
The GolfBC Group is a golf and resort management and investment company based in Vancouver, Canada, and is the owner of eight championship golf courses in British Columbia. Additional information about GolfBC can be found at its web site: www.golfbc.com
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking" statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties such as those described on page 19 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated in the Company's 2002 annual report to shareholders. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the statements.
CONTACT:
A&B
Meredith Ching, 808-525-6669
mching@abinc.com
or
GolfBC
Donald Lee, 604-681-8700 ext. 212
dlee@golfbc.com
SOURCE: Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.