Illnesses prompt Whole Foods cheese recall
NEW YORK >> Whole Foods Market Inc. is recalling Crave Brothers Les Freres cheese in response to an outbreak of a bacterial infection that has sickened people in several states and killed at least one person.
Whole Foods says the cheese may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. It was sold in 30 states and Washington, D.C., under names including Les Freres and Crave Brothers Les Freres. The cheese was cut and packaged in clear plastic wrap and sold with Whole Foods Market scale labels. The company said customers should throw the cheese away and bring in their receipts for a full refund.
Chaminade gets accreditation for biz degrees
Chaminade University has become the first private university in Hawaii to receive specialized accreditation for its business programs.
The Board of Commissioners for the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) recently notified the university that it had granted Chaminade’s School of Business and Communication’s application for accreditation, following submission of a self-study and IACBE site visit this year.
The business degrees accredited by IACBE include a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Associate Arts in Business Administration.
"For our students and graduates, this specialized accreditation has several significant benefits, including enhanced reputation, evidence of program quality, and public accountability of the school for student learning," said the dean of Chaminade University’s School of Business and Communication, Scott Schroeder. "Our relationship with IACBE will also serve to promote continued innovation and creativity in teaching and learning through the sharing of best practices in business education."
Kilohana Square owner buys adjacent lot
The owner of Kilohana Square, a small retail complex in Kapahulu, has bought an adjacent vacant lot for future expansion.
Giampaolo Boschetti bought the 19,900-square-foot lot at Kapahulu Avenue and Kihei Place for $4.1 million, according to broker Bishop Street Commercial.
The seller was GLACS LLC, a firm that bought the site in 2007 for $2.7 million, according to property records.
Bishop Street Commercial said the site was on the market for about two years, and envisioned for a five-story office building. The firm said Boschetti plans to use the property for additional Kilohana Square parking with a later expansion for retail and office use.
ALTRES opens office in Kahului
ALTRES, a Hawaii-based employment services company, has opened its first office on Maui and fifth in the state.
"Over the last 40-plus years of doing business in Hawaii, we’ve always had a demand for services on Maui," said Michelle Conrey, regional manager for ALTRES Staffing. "The volume of those requests finally got to the point where opening an office made sense for us."
Hours for the new Kahului location are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Temporary assignments, placement services and temp-to-hire positions are available. The Kahului office focuses on recruitment for office, technical, medical and industrial jobs.
Dell buyout bid won’t be raised, sources say
NEW YORK » Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management LLC won’t sweeten their $24.4 billion offer to take Dell Inc. private, people with direct knowledge of the situation said.
Dell and Silver Lake are ruling out an increase because the $13.65-a-share offer they made in February represents a fair and significant premium to where the stock would trade if the deal fell apart, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.
The shares dropped 2.1 percent to $13.03 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
The decision is the latest in the fight over Dell, set to culminate in a shareholder vote July 18. While Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. is leaning toward a negative recommendation on CEO Dell’s proposal, people familiar with the situation have said, billionaire Carl Icahn said this week that he secured $5.2 billion in debt financing to support his third and last attempt to scuttle the leveraged buyout.
"Our recommendation is for Dell shareholders to take the $13.65-per-share deal and run," said Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group in San Francisco who has a neutral rating on the shares. "This company is in dire straits. They’ve got a lot of hurdles they need to surmount, and ultimately, if they vote down this proposal, the total outcome for investors is going to be less than the $13.65."
Private banks possible, China says
BEIJING » China on Friday promised sweeping changes to its state-run banking system — including allowing the creation of private lenders — to support its credit-starved entrepreneurs and curb what regulators worry are growing financial risks.
Analysts including the World Bank say an overhaul of a Chinese banking system that lends little to the private sector is urgently needed to keep economic growth strong. Communist leaders who took power last year have promised to support entrepreneurs who generate new jobs and wealth in China, but have yet to make significant changes.
On the Move
The Hawaiian Eye Center’s Wahiawa office has hired:
>> Natasha Geronimo as a patient services representative. She was previously a medical assistant to an internal medicine physician in Honolulu.
>> Edna Asentista as a patient services representative. She was previously a medical assistant to a Mililani optometrist.
Allana Buick and Bers has announced Joe Higgins has been promoted to operations manager for its Hawaii office. He has been with the company since 2008 and has more than 25 years of experience working with mechanical systems.
