Made in Hawaii Festival lures 37,500

The Made in Hawaii Festival at the Neal Blaisdell exhibition hall drew 37,500 people, up from the 37,000 that attended last year.

This was the 15th annual festival and had more than 450 vendors, including 46 new vendors. Vendors from neighbor islands were represented at the show: 45 from the Big Island, seven from Kauai, 20 from Maui and three from Molokai.

The festival showcases food, books, gifts, fashions, plants, art, crafts and produce from Hawaii. It was put on by the Made in Hawaii Festival Association and First Hawaiian Bank.

Medical building opens on Beretania

Healthcare Realty, a Nashville, Tenn.-based real estate investment trust, will open a new nine-story medical building tomorrow with 124,000 square feet of space available to lease on the corner of Beretania and Keeaumoku streets.

Doug Whitman, chief operating officer for Healthcare Realty, will be on hand for a blessing and opening ceremony. The company said the new building can accommodate "everything from a 1,000-square-foot, one-physician practice to a 10,000-square-foot surgery suite." There is an adjacent eight-story garage with 400 parking stalls for patients and other visitors.

The building is named Hale Pawaa and is at 1401 S. Beretania St.

AIG repaying nearly $4B in loans

In its single biggest repayment of bailout loans so far, American International Group Inc. said yesterday it is paying back nearly $4 billion in taxpayer aid with proceeds from a recent debt sale.

The insurer’s aircraft leasing company, International Lease Finance Corp., completed the sale of $4.4 billion in debt. AIG will use more than $3.9 billion of the proceeds to repay the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, trimming the balance on its credit line with the Fed to about $15 billion. Adding interest, the total is about $21 billion.

The emergency credit line was part of a $182 billion federal bailout package that New York-based AIG received during the financial crisis to avoid collapse. AIG has been selling off assets to pay back the aid.

Man pleads guilty in Disney scheme

NEW YORK » A man charged with selling secrets about finances at Walt Disney Co. pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to wire fraud charges and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Yonni Sebbag, a citizen of Morocco, and his girlfriend, former Disney employee Bonnie Hoxie, were arrested in California in May in the insider trading case filed in New York.

Potash rejects BHP’s $38.5B offer

TORONTO » Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said yesterday that its board voted unanimously to reject BHP Billiton’s hostile $38.5 billion takeover offer as it doesn’t reflect the strong growth the company believes it is poised to enjoy.

The Canadian company said it’s in talks with several companies that have approached it or it has initiated contact with.

Potash, the world’s largest potash miner, said its share price had been depressed by the global recession but should rise as growth in agriculture boosts demand for potash, a key ingredient of fertilizer.

J&J recalls lenses overseas

TRENTON, N.J. » Health giant Johnson & Johnson has issued its ninth recall of a consumer health product in a year, this time covering millions of 1 Day Acuvue contact lenses sold in Japan and two dozen other countries in Asia and Europe.

The affected contact lenses were mostly sold in Japan, and none were sold in the U.S. or Canada, the company said.

Johnson & Johnson said yesterday it had received a limited number of complaints from customers in Japan that they experienced an unusual stinging or pain when inserting the Acuvue TruEye Brand contact lenses.

On the Move

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has awarded Kelly Sanders the "Chief Sales Officer Award" for the second quarter. He has been the general manger at Sheraton Waikiki for four years.

Kona Brewing Co. has promoted Shane Johnson to general manager at the Kailua-Kona pub. He has worked at Kona Brewing for nearly 10 years and has held various positions.

Punahou School has named Kathryn Nelson its vice president of institutional advancement. Nelson will oversee the school’s fundraising, alumni relations and communications programs which collectively marshal resources and support to advance the mission of Punahou School.