Bankoh ratings outlook affirmed as ‘stable’

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the rating outlook as "stable" for Bank of Hawaii Corp. and subsidiary Bank of Hawaii, and affirmed the bank’s long-term issuer default rating at A-.

The agency said in its Tuesday report that the rating action reflects the bank’s "solid balance sheet fundamentals, as well as its consistent earnings and credit performance."

Fitch said the bank’s strong local franchise provides the company with a good core funding base and contributes to its healthy liquidity position. It also maintains a strong high-quality capital base, Fitch said.

"BOH’s relatively healthy performance is driven by a reliable source of spread income, low credit costs and good operating efficiency," Fitch said. "Credit quality has remained solid and did not exhibit much volatility during the more challenging operating environment in Hawaii."

However, Fitch cautioned that it expects the bank’s earnings growth to be constrained despite the improving economic conditions in the state. Fitch attributed its cautious projection to limited loan growth, declining yields in the securities portfolio and regulatory rules that have and will continue to pressure noninterest income. Still, Fitch said it expects the bank to remain "solidly profitable."

California firm, Savio partner on Iroquois Point

A Manhattan Beach, Calif., investment firm is the main equity partner in a group buying the former 1,450-home Iroquois Point Navy subdivision on Oahu now known as Waterfront at Pu‘uloa.

Pendo Investments is the firm partnering with the group led by local developer Peter Savio, according to trade publication Real Estate Alert. The group is buying the housing complex on land leased from the Navy for around $300 million.

The seller is Hunt Development, which acquired the 367-acre Ewa Beach property from the Navy in 2003. Savio said he intends to sell homes for between $30,000 and $70,000 under market.

Study: Rich get richer, outpace middle class

WASHINGTON » The richest 1 percent of Americans have been getting far richer over the past three decades while the middle class and poor have seen their after-tax household income only crawl up in comparison, according to a government study.

After-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost tripled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the economic scale, after-tax income grew by just 40 percent. Those at the bottom had an 18 percent increase.

"The distribution of after-tax income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said in a blog post. "The share of income accruing to higher-income households increased, whereas the share accruing to other households declined."

The top 1 percent made $165,000 or more in 1979; that jumped to $347,000 in 2007, the study said. The income for the top fifth started at $51,289 in 1979 and rose to $70,578 in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, those in the 20th percentile went from $12,823 in 1979 to $14,851 in 2007.

The report, based on IRS and Census Bureau data, comes as the Occupy Wall Street movement protests corporate bailouts and the gap between the haves and have-nots. Demonstrators call themselves "the 99 percent."

Google paid $151M for Zagat in deal frenzy

SAN FRANCISCO » Google spent more than $500 million to acquire another 27 companies during the third quarter, ensuring this year will be busiest shopping spree in the Internet search leader’s history.

The tally emerged Wednesday in a quarterly report that included another previously undisclosed nugget: Google Inc. paid $151 million in cash for the Zagat Survey, a renowned restaurant review publisher that Google bought to counter the popularity of Yelp’s business rating service. The price is higher than estimated in previously published reports, which pegged the deal’s value between $65 million and $125 million.

Google’s latest flurry of deals raised its acquisition count to 57 companies through the first nine months of the year. That already exceeds Google’s previous annual record of 48 acquisitions last year.

Although Google has never completed more acquisitions in its 13-year history, the company isn’t guaranteed of setting a spending record.

Through September, Google’s deals had cost a total of $1.4 billion. That’s below the $1.8 billion that Google spent last year and less than the $3.2 billion it spent in 2008 buying online advertising service DoubleClick, its biggest-ever purchase and its only acquisition that year.

Google agreed to buy the cellphone maker for Motorola Mobility Inc. for $12.5 billion in August, but that deal may not be completed before the end of the year.

ON THE MOVE

Life Care Physician Services, a subsidiary of Life Care Centers of America, has appointed Toby Smith a full-time physician on-site at Ka Punawai Ola in Kapolei. His responsibilities include patient assessment, diagnosis and treatment as well as helping with pharmacy communications and hospital transitions.