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Honolulu-based Roberts Hawaii is buying competitor Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line’s land-based operations in Hawaii.
The purchase, which will include Polynesian Adventure Tours and Luau Kalamaku, has not yet closed and remains subject to review by the state Public Utilities Commission.
“We believe this transaction is a sound decision for both Norwegian Cruise Line and Roberts Hawaii,” Percy Higashi, Roberts Hawaii president and chief operating officer, said in an emailed statement. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to create value for our company and the employees at both operations, and offer an even higher level of ground transportation service to state residents and our visitor industry.”
Higashi said that the company intends to maintain both brands in the marketplace once the transaction is complete. During the review process, “it will be business as usual for both companies, and no changes will be made to our operations,” he said.
“As the transaction is still pending, there are limits on what we can share at this time. We will be able to provide updated information after the PUC approval process is complete,” he said.
Sandi Weir, Polynesian Adventure Tours’ president, could not be reached for comment.
In recent years Roberts Hawaii has grown. The company, which was established in 1941 in Hanepepe, Kauai, by Robert Iwamoto Sr. as a one-man taxi operation, has 1,850 employees and operates on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island.
Roberts Hawaii last expanded with its purchase of Waikiki Ocean Club in 2013. Its holdings are focused on tours, transportation and entertainment, which includes the “Magic of Polynesia” show. It’s been an employee-owned company since 2006.
NCL purchased Polynesian Adventure Tours in 2004 from a California living trust for $5 million. At the time, the tour company was the second-largest tour bus company in the state. It had approximately 200 employees and operated more than 100 motor coaches and buses on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii island.
The purchase fit into NCL’s aggressive isle expansion plan, which began in 2004 and by 2006 had grown to include the foreign-flagged Norwegian Wind and three U.S. flagged home-ported interisland cruise liners, including the Pride of Aloha, Pride of Hawaii and Pride of America.
Altogether, NCL’s four vessels were expected to bring about 500,000 vacationers a year to the state. NCL had anticipated the acquisition of Polynesian Adventure Tours would ensure that it could develop the ground operations to service tour and transfer requirements for its rapidly growing cruise business.
But by early 2008 the company had withdrawn Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii from the isles. NCL blamed competition from West Coast-based, foreign-flagged ships for increasing capacity while driving down prices.
State officials estimated the loss of Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii would reduce visitor spending by $656 million a year. The reductions also forced NCL to reduce staff at the NCL America headquarters office in Honolulu by about 50 employees.
NCL announced the pending sale of Polynesian Adventure Tours in its fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 earnings report, which came out Tuesday. In the report, the company announced that Pride of America, its only remaining U.S.-flagged ship in Hawaii, would go into dry dock this spring as part of a seven-ship refurbishment program that began in October.
For all of 2015, NCL reported a profit of $427.1 million, or $1.86 a share, compared with $338.4 million, or $1.62 a share, in 2014. The company said its revenue rose to $4.35 billion from $3.13 billion.
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