Japanese firm buys Cathy George & Associates Inc.

Honolulu-based Cathy George & Associates Inc. has been acquired by a unit of Japan-based LIST Co. Ltd.

The purchase by LIST International Realty Inc., for undisclosed terms, follows the company’s earlier acquisitions of Mary Worrall Associates Sotheby’s International Realty and Kahala Associates in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Cathy George & Associates was established in 1988 and focuses on the high-end real estate market, primarily in East Oahu.

Cathy George and other executives of the company will remain with the company under its new ownership, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

UH med school among top 20 in U.S.

The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine was ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

The 2016 "Best U.S. Medical Schools" placed the school at No. 19 in the nation for primary care medicine. The medical school climbed from 57th place in 2015.

The 19th place ranking in primary care is shared with the University of California-Davis, UC-San Diego, and the medical schools at the University of Chicago, the University of Pittsburgh and Washington University in St. Louis.

In addition, the UH medical school landed at No. 74 for research, tied with the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine at Rutgers University. Last year JABSOM research was ranked at No. 78.

Tesoro buyer says purchase challenging

Houston-based Par Petroleum Corp. named its Hawaii business — which includes Tesoro and 76-brand stations — as a challenge for the year when reporting 2014 fourth quarter results.

Joseph Israel, Par Petroleum’s President and CEO said, "In 2014, we focused a tremendous amount of energy on building a company around our Hawaii refining and marketing business. After the early termination of the Tesoro transition services agreement, hiring people and repositioning ourselves in the market, we reached a steady and comfortable mode of operations in the fourth quarter. We are now shifting gears toward optimization and growth. The $107 million Mid Pac acquisition (in June, which includes 76-brand gas stations) is expected to close on April 1st which will add 86 retail locations to our network."

Par Petroleum completed its purchase of Tesoro’s Kapolei refinery in September 2013.

Par Petroleum reported net income of $31.7 million compared with a loss of $50.5 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Hawaiian Telcom holding technology event

Hawaiian Telcom University will host its sixth annual event for local business and technology professionals on March 17 at the Hawaii Convention Center.

The event will focus on helping businesses understand how to leverage cloud investment and optimize efficiency and productivity. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. there will be workshops, technology exhibits, demonstrations of products and services by local and national technology experts as well as networking. Breakout session topics include Winning Strategy for Hybrid Cloud Environments, Virtualization of Today’s Network Connectivity, Don’t Let a Breach Make You Famous, and more.

MADD wins Volta’s awareness award

Mother Against Drunk Driving Hawaii announced Wednesday it won the Awareness Powered by Volta Contest. The nonprofit will receive three months of free advertising worth approximately $8,000 at one of Volta’s electric vehicle charging stations on Oahu.

The Awareness Powered by Volta contest asked non-profits to submit an application with a statement about why their organization should be chosen. MADD Hawaii was the first place winner with 48 percent of the vote, which was decided from the Volta Charging Facebook page where the public was asked to vote for their favorite non-profit.

PetSmart goes private as $8.7B sale closes

NEW YORK >> PetSmart said Wednesday that it has been taken private, as a group of investors led by the buyout firm BC Partners completed their $8.7 billion acquisition of the pet store retailer.

PetSmart President and CEO David Lenhart and Chairman Gregory Josefowicz are stepping down as part of the deal. Michael Massey is being named president and CEO, and Raymond Svider is the new non-executive chairman. He is the former CEO of Collective Brands Inc., which owns Payless ShoeSource, and Svider is managing partner at BC Partners.

On Dec. 14, the company said it would be taken private in a deal that valued the company at $83 per share. That was a 39 percent premium to its closing price on July 2. PetSmart Inc. shareholders approved the sale on Friday. The company operates about 1,387 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Fed OKs dividend, buyback plans for banks

WASHINGTON >> The Federal Reserve gave the green light Wednesday to major U.S. banks to raise dividends and buy back shares, deeming they have a sturdy enough financial foundation to withstand a major economic downturn.

But the Fed gave Bank of America only conditional approval because of what were seen as weaknesses in its plans dealing with risks and possible losses.

The central bank also rejected plans by the U.S. divisions of two European banks, saying their planning for financial risks is inadequate. Those divisions belong to Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Spain’s Santander.

The Fed approvals announced Wednesday were the result of its "stress tests" — an annual check-up of the nation’s biggest financial institutions. This year, 31 banks were tested to determine if they have large enough capital buffers to keep lending through another financial crisis and severe economic downturn.

UPS honors 3 isle drivers for 25 crash-free years

Thomas Ayala of Kapolei, Gary Chew of Pearl City and Carlan Maglinti of Kapaa, Kauai, have been inducted into the UPS Circle of Honor for 25 years of accident-free delivery driving.

The three are among seven active Circle of Honor drivers in Hawaii, with a total of 190 years of accident-free driving. Malcolm Toyama of Honolulu is the isles’ senior safe driver at UPS, with a 31-year track record.

Hawaii’s new honorees are among 1,445 new inductees for the company this year, and are among 7,878 active UPS drivers to have earned the distinction. UPS has an estimated 102,000 drivers nationwide and 107 in Hawaii.

Altima hood-latch flaw adds to Nissan’s recalls

DETROIT » Nissan is recalling 640,000 more cars in the U.S. and Canada to fix a growing problem with faulty latches that can allow hoods to fly open while cars are being driven.

The latest recall covers Altima midsize sedans from the 2013 through 2015 model years, bringing the total number of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles recalled for the problem to nearly 1.1 million worldwide.

In documents posted Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nissan said that if the main latch isn’t fastened, the secondary latch might not hold the hood closed as designed.

Friday’s recall covers Altimas built from March 1, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2014. In October of last year, Nissan recalled 238,000 Altimas from the 2013 model year for the same problem. Those were built from March 6, 2012, to Feb. 28, 2013. Also, in January, the company recalled 216,000 Nissan Pathfinder SUVs from 2013 and 2014, Infiniti JX35s from 2013 and QX60s from 2014 for the same problem.

Nissan has received no reports of crashes or injuries caused by the problem, spokesman Steve Yaeger said Friday.

Dealers will modify the latch lever, as well as clean and lubricate the secondary latch joint. The latch assembly could be replaced. The problem was discovered when Nissan received reports of a small number of hoods coming open and damaging the cars.

GM’s $5 billion buyback satisfies top shareholder

DETROIT » General Motors announced a $5 billion stock buyback as part of a plan to return more cash to investors. In reaction, an activist shareholder decided to drop a potentially divisive bid for a seat on the firm’s board.

The moves, announced Monday, are part of a deal with Harry Wilson, a former member of the government task force that restructured GM coming out of its 2009 bankruptcy.

Wilson, who represents four hedge funds that own about 2 percent of the company, had previously accused GM of hoarding cash to the detriment of shareholders, and had sought an $8 billion buyback and a board seat.

But on Monday he said he was impressed at how quickly GM’s management responded, adding that the company agreed to just about everything the funds wanted.

"We basically said thank you," Wilson said.

GM had $25.2 billion in cash at the end of last year, part of what it called a "fortress balance sheet" designed to withstand another financial crisis. Now the automaker plans to maintain a cash balance of $20 billion and aims to keep its investment-grade credit rating.

The share repurchase will begin immediately and finish before the end of 2016.

On The Move

» Marsy’s Law for Hawaii has announced Marci Lopes is its new executive director. In addition to her new role, Lopes is the executive director of the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Earlier in her career, Lopes served as a program director for Parents and Children Together for 10 years and was responsible for the operation of Oahu Family Visitation Center, the Ohia Domestic Violence Shelter, the Lehua Transition House and the Batter Intervention Program on Oahu.

» Dr. Andrew Kayes has been named the Intersociety Private Practice Representative for the American College of Radiology. He is the first Hawaii radiologist to ever hold this title. Kayes is the medical director of Maui Diagnostic Imaging and for 13 years has been an active member of the ACR, which has more than 37,000 members.

» Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort has hired Anthony Miller as the resort’s new executive sous chef. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the restaurant and hotel industry. Miller was previously the chef, consultant and owner of Father John’s Brewing Co. in Ohio as well as the chef consultant at Kitchen 4140 in San Diego.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: