Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Connie Lau said Wednesday she is hopeful state regulators will decide that the sale of HEI to Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc. will provide significant benefits for customers.

Lau spoke during HEI’s annual shareholder meeting, as investors voiced their concerns about the success of the pending change in ownership. Shareholders asked Lau why NextEra’s $4.3 billion purchase of HEI would be a good move, how to get Gov. David Ige to favor the sale, and what HEI’s contingency plan was if regulators denied the application.

“We continue to believe NextEra Energy is the right partner,” Lau said. “(NextEra) brings a powerful combination of renewable energy experience … and financial strength necessary for advancing and modernizing our infrastructure and achieving Hawaii’s 100 percent renewable energy goal.”

Earnings report

Before the shareholder meeting, HEI — the parent company for the state’s major utilities Hawaiian Electric Co., Maui Electric Co. and Hawaii Electric Light, and American Savings Bank — said first quarter profit was $32.4 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with $31.9 million, or 31 cents a share, for the first quarter of 2015. Total revenue for HEI was $551 million compared to $638 million in the first quarter 2015.

The company spent $1.6 million on costs related to its sale to NextEra in the first quarter of 2016. The company paid $4.7 million on costs related to the sale in the first quarter of 2015.

The state Public Utilities Commission is reviewing the application after final documents were filed Monday. The sale was announced in December 2014.

David Smith of Kaimuki, 72, said he was concerned about HEI’s ‘Plan B’ if state regulators didn’t approve the sale. Smith said he has been a stockholder for 30 years.

“Everything is going to change if the PUC doesn’t approve this thing,” Smith said. “We go back to square one.”

Lau said that HEI’s companies have operated on a stand-alone basis throughout the proceedings and would continue to do so if NextEra’s buyout of HEI wasn’t approved.

“We will still be the same company after that,” Lau said. “We would still continue forward.”

Amy Monk of Hawaii Kai, 63, echoed Smith’s concern about what would happen if the sale wasn’t approved.

Either party has the right to terminate the agreement if the merger is not consummated by June 3. Both parties are bound by a $90 million termination fee. HEI would have been liable to pay the fee to NextEra if the company had failed to get shareholder approval. HEI shareholders approved the sale in June 2015. NextEra is liable to pay it if the sale fails to get regulatory approval.

“We would be owed a termination fee by NextEra, if they decided to walk,” Lau said.

Ige opposed

One shareholder asked Jeff Watanabe, chairman of HEI’s board of directors, what it would take to get the governor’s approval.

“Why can’t we get the governor on board? What is it going to take? Money?” a shareholder asked.

The room laughed. Watanabe said he couldn’t answer the question.

Ige first announced his opposition to the sale in July and has remained opposed throughout the PUC proceeding.

“The governor’s opposition to this transaction occurred prior to the application already being filed,” Watanabe said. “I can’t answer the question (of how to get Ige on board). I don’t know. We stay in touch. We keep them briefed.”

Watanabe also addressed the concern that Hawaii’s largest electric utility would be owned by a Florida-based company, saying other Hawaii companies, such as First Hawaiian Bank, are owned by people outside the state.

“The question really, to me at least … is about culture of the local company and its management,” Watanabe said. “It’s not the question of who owns the stock.”

Lau said NextEra will strengthen and accelerate Hawaii’s renewable energy goals because NextEra is a leading renewable energy company and major supplier of solar and wind power. Lau also said the company has a track record for lowering costs. She said that when the sale was announced, rates at NextEra’s electric utility were 22 percent lower than national average and that they are about 30 percent below the national average now.

Lau also said shareholders will benefit if the sale is approved, as they will get $37.07 for each HEI share, based on Tuesday’s price. When the sale was first announced, HEI shareholders were looking at a payoff of $33.50 a share. HEI shares closed at $33.16 Wednesday, up 42 cents.

In addition to working on the sale, Lau said, “we continued to keep our core companies healthy.”

Trading halted

HEI said Hawaiian Electric Co., its electric utility subsidiary, reported a profit of $25.4 million in the first quarter of 2016 compared to $26.9 million in the first quarter of 2015. HEI said the $1.5 million decline was mainly because of increasing investments in its service, system and integration of more renewable energy. Total electric utility revenue for the first quarter was $482 million compared to $573 million the period prior. A drop in oil prices in the last year has led to lower electric bills. In March 2015, the typical Oahu residential electric bill was $150.18. In March of this year the bill was $123.06.

Net income for American Savings Bank, HEI’s bank subsidiary, declined 6 percent in the first quarter as it increased its provision for potential loan losses and endured higher expenses. Its earnings fell to $12.7 million from $13.5 million in the year-earlier quarter.

The New York Stock Exchange halted trading of HEI stock for about 45 minutes on Wednesday.

Jim Ajello, HEI’s chief financial officer, said the pause occurred because its earnings results differed from market expectations and because the company made a series of regulatory filings including one related to a planned spinoff of its bank. Hawaiian Electric released earnings during trading hours because of a scheduling conflict, the company said. Typically earnings statements are issued before or after market hours.

HEI’s explanation corrected the speculation that news related to its proposed sale to NextEra may have been pending.

“It was unusual, yes,” Paul Patterson, an analyst for Glenrock Associates LLC, said of the trading halt. “But given the explanation, it was understandable.”

Bloomberg News contributed to this story.