Pacific Office seeks $100 million in private investment

The financially struggling owner of three Honolulu office towers has retained a broker to attract a new investor or investors to put possibly more than $100 million into the company and become its new majority owner.

Hawaii-based Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc. retained real estate investment banking firm Eastdil Secured for the effort.

Pacific Office owns Waterfront Plaza, Davies Pacific Center and the Pan Am Building as well as 5 percent stakes in one Honolulu building at 1833 Kalakaua Ave. and one in Phoenix.

Larry Taff, company president and CEO, said the new investment, if realized, will allow Pacific Office to pay off some debt and be in a better position to grow.

“We’re not selling assets,” he said. “We’re not selling out.”

Taff said the company is looking to attract more than $100 million in equity in return for as much as an 80 percent stake in the company while Shidler Pacific Advisors, a Honolulu firm that includes Taff, would continue to be the operating partner in the company.

Local real estate investor Jay Shidler contributed buildings he owned to form Pacific Office in 2008 with four other founders, and organized the firm with public stock ownership as a way to finance acquisition of more buildings.

However, the debut and expansion plan coincided with the U.S. economic recession, and a major stock offering fizzled. Instead, Pacific Office ended up selling or losing most of its buildings to foreclosure in recent years as it dealt with financial losses. The company at one time owned 24 office properties.

For the first nine months of last year, Pacific Office reported a $10.4 million net loss, down from a $13.3 million loss in the same period of 2014.

Taff said Waterfront Plaza, Davies Pacific and the Pan Am Building represent the best assets Shidler contributed. “We are left with the cream of the crop,” he said.

Mortgage debt totaling $266 million is maturing later this year on the three buildings. The company also owes $30 million on promissory notes to Pacific Office’s five founders and a $25 million debt to First Hawaiian Bank — both of which also mature later this year. Taff said the company aims to refinance the mortgage debt.

Public shareholders own about 5 percent of Pacific Office. Taff said trying to find private investment to take a big stake in the company will have a better payoff because private investors are valuing real estate more than public investors.

“Private equity is a lot cheaper than public equity right now,” he said.

Shares of Pacific Office closed Wednesday at $1.04. Shares in the last 52 weeks have risen from a low of 7 cents on Jan. 20 to a high of $1.04. Pacific Office stock’s initial public offering took place in March 2008 at almost $7 a share.