Maui Pineapple Saved With Newly Formed Company: Haliimaile Pineapple Company, Ltd. | Maui Now

Valuable agriculturable jobs rescued
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January 1, 2010 marks a new day for pineapple production on Maui, as a team that includes five former Maui Pineapple Company executives assume operations of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.

The five join Ulupalakua Ranch’s Pardee Erdman in running the newly named Haliimaile Pineapple Company, Ltd. The new company will officially assumes operations tomorrow, January 1, 2010 and will continue to grow and market fresh pineapple under the established Maui Gold® Brand.

HPC has purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment and buildings from ML&P with plans to serve the Hawaii market.

Please Click Here to Purchase Maui Gold Pineapples Online.

This is the sweetest, best tasting, Pineapple in the world.

Grown on Maui by Hali'imaile Pineapple Co.

Please buy this product!!!
PRIDE IN ISLAND!!!

“We are proud to continue the 100 year legacy of pineapple on Maui,” said Darren Strand, president and CEO of the new company.

“Haliimaile Pineapple Company brings new hope for a new year by immediately saving 65 agricultural jobs with an expectation of adding more in the future,” said Strand.

Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares responded to the announcement this afternoon saying, “I am extremely grateful to the company for their commitment to continue Maui Gold pineapple on Maui. I was excited to hear that nearly 70 employees will retain jobs associated with Haliimaile Pineapple Company and I’m confident that the new company will find success.”

“The company founders, shareholders and directors are to be commended for their work in making this happen. Since first learning about this effort, I’ve been very excited about the possibilities. The fact that jobs are saved and pineapple farming continues is absolutely great news for our county,” said Mayor Tavares.

Governor Linda Lingle also welcomed the news saying, “I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than with preservation of 65 agricultural jobs and the prospect of creating more jobs for our residents in the long-term. The new company and the ongoing cultivation of pineapple on Maui will help stimulate our economy and also inject a boost of confidence in what has been a challenging year.”

Key shareholders and directors in the new company include Pardee Erdman, owner of Ulupalakua Ranch; Doug Schenk, former president of Maui Pineapple Company; former vice presidents of MPC, Doug MacCluer and Ed Chenchin; and current operating directors for MPC, Darren Strand and Rudy Balala. The group brings over 150 years of combined expertise in growing and packing premium pineapple on Maui.

HPC will consolidate its plantation, fresh fruit packing facility, cold storage, and shipping operations in Haliimaile to maximize efficiency and product quality. Company officials say they will continue to provide the highest quality of fresh pineapple to local hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets while increasing its direct consumer business.

ILWU Local 142 Maui Division Director, Willie Kennison said, “We are grateful to Haliimaile Pineapple Company for saving these jobs to make this a happy New Year for so many Maui families.

In a news release today, company officials said they would hire existing ML&P employees and the ILWU will continue to represent the company’s workers.

ML&P Chairman and Interim CEO, Warren H. Haruki said, “We are gratified to see the continuation of pineapple farming on Maui. The new company’s simplifie3d business model and targeted local market, along with the flexibility and cooperation of the ILWU are key ingredients for their future success,” Haruki said.

(Posted by Wendy Osher)

Maui Pineapple Saved With Newly Formed Company: Haliimaile Pineapple Company, Ltd. | Maui Now

New pineapple company to rise from ashes of Maui Land subsidiary – Starbulletin.com

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New pineapple company to rise from ashes of Maui Land subsidiary

By Star-Bulletin staff

POSTED: 01:32 p.m. HST, Dec 31, 2009

Pride in Island!
Pineapple on Maui FOREVER!
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A group of Valley Isle residents plans to start operating a new pineapple company tomorrow to serve whole fruit customers of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

The last pay day for Maui Land’s subsidiary Maui Pineapple Co. Ltd. was today.

The new business Haliimaile Pineapple Co. has purchased some of Maui Land’s pineapple equipment and leased 1,000 acres with an option of leasing more land, said Doug Schenk, one of the investors.

Schenk, an investor and a former president of Maui Pineapple Co., said the new company will be employing about 68 people, including about 60 who formerly worked at Maui Land and were ILWU members.

A group of Valley Isle residents plans to start operating a new pineapple company tomorrow to serve whole fruit customers of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

The last pay day for Maui Land’s subsidiary Maui Pineapple Co. Ltd. was today.

The new business Haliimaile Pineapple Co. has purchased some of Maui Land’s pineapple equipment and leased 1,000 acres with an option of leasing more land, said Doug Schenk, one of the investors.

Schenk, an investor and a former president of Maui Pineapple Co., said the new company will be employing about 68 people, including about 60 who formerly worked at Maui Land and were ILWU members.

New pineapple company to rise from ashes of Maui Land subsidiary – Starbulletin.com

GOVERNOR LINGLE STATEMENT ON HALIIMAILE PINEAPPLE COMPANY’S PLAN TO SAVE PINEAPPLE ON MAUI — Office of the Governor

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle issued the following statement regarding Haliimaile Pineapple Company and the plan to continue pineapple operations on Maui:

Please Click Here to Purchase Maui Gold Pineapples Online.

This is the sweetest, best tasting, Pineapple in the world.

Grown on Maui by Hali'imaile Pineapple Co.

Please buy this product!!!
PRIDE IN ISLAND!!!

“The formation of Haliimaile Pineapple Company and its plan to assume pineapple operations from Maui Land and Pineapple Company is welcomed news for Maui and the entire State of Hawai‘i.

“I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than with preservation of 65 agricultural jobs and the prospect of creating more jobs for our residents in the long-term.  The new company and the ongoing cultivation of pineapple on Maui will help stimulate our economy and also inject a boost of confidence in what has been a challenging year.

“I want to thank the individuals who remained committed to finding an innovative way to revive pineapple operations on Maui. Their collaborative efforts will help preserve an important part of our culture and heritage, while charting a new course for the future of the pineapple industry in Hawai‘i.”

GOVERNOR LINGLE STATEMENT ON HALIIMAILE PINEAPPLE COMPANY’S PLAN TO SAVE PINEAPPLE ON MAUI — Office of the Governor

New company to take over pineapple operations – The Maui News

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New company to take over pineapple operations

Pineapple is BACK!
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POSTED: December 31, 2009

The newly formed Haliimaile Pineapple Co. Ltd. announced today it would immediately take over 1,000 acres and related facilities from Maui Pineapple Co., under an agreement signed Thursday with Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

The new company’s first day of work will be Saturday, when employees will start picking Maui Gold fruit, said Doug Schenk, one of the six local partners in the venture.

Maui Pine’s last harvest was Dec. 23. The company had announced it was leaving the business earlier this year after recording continuous, large losses.

The owners and directors of the new venture are Pardee Erdman, owner of Ulupalakua Ranch; Schenk, Doug MacCluer and Ed Chenchin, all retired Maui Pine managers; and two men who were operating directors of Maui Pine until it closed, Strand and Rudy Balala.

Haliimaile Pine has licensed and purchased assets notably the Maui Gold patented variety and leased land, equipment and buildings from Maui Pine.

Haliimaile Pine will do its own marketing, targeting local retailers, hotels and restaurants.

Hui takes over operations of Maui Pineapple Co. | The Honolulu Advertiser

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We can't all clean Condos for a living
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Five former Maui Pineapple Co. executives have teamed up with the owner of Ulupalakua Ranch to take over the pineapple operations of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

The new company, Haliimaile Pineapple Co. will continue to grow and market fresh pineapple under the established Maui Gold Brand.

HPC has purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment, and buildings from ML&P with plans to serve the Hawaii market.

Maui Land & Pineapple in November announced that it would exit the business after close to 100 years of plantation-scale pineapple farming on the Valley Isle. The company last week harvested its final pineapple crop.

"The formation of Haliimaile Pineapple Company and its plan to assume pineapple operations from Maui Land and Pineapple Company is welcomed news for Maui and the entire State of Hawai’i.

ML&P viability in doubt – The Maui News

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WAILUKU – Maui Land & Pineapple Co.’s unrelenting losses and deep debts could sink the company, according to auditors.

In a report filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ML&P said auditors found the company’s future jeopardized by its financial losses, weak cash reserves, an inability to meet certain financial obligations and an overall balance sheet that shows the company’s liabilities exceeding its assets by more than $60 million.

ML&P is counting on being able to sell some of its real estate in order to meet its financial obligations and raise cash, but in a down real estate market that plan’s success is uncertain, the report says.

"There can be no assurance that the company will be able to sell real estate assets at acceptable prices, or at all, or that it will be able to maintain compliance with financial covenants, which raises substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern," the report says.

Maui Land & Pineapple also hopes to raise up to $25 million in the form of new investment from existing shareholders. In a separate registration statement filed Monday with the SEC, the company announced its intentions to register a secondary equity offering that would allow current shareholders to buy additional shares of common stock.

The offering is pending approval by the SEC.

Audit: Maui Land & Pineapple’s future uncertain – Yahoo! Finance

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Audit: Maui Land & Pineapple future uncertain as liabilities exceed assets by $60 million

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On Wednesday December 30, 2009, 5:14 pm EST

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Maui Land & Pineapple Co. says its auditors have found the company’s liabilities exceed its assets by more than $60 million, raising doubts about its ability to survive.

The property developer, one of Maui’s biggest landowners, said in a report filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it’s counting on being able to sell some of its real estate to raise cash and meet its financial obligations. But the weak real estate market may thwart those plans.

The uncertainty about real estate sales "raises substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern," the report said.

Maui Land provided the report on Deloitte & Touche’s audit to the SEC Monday, the same day it submitted a registration statement announcing plans to sell more stock to current shareholders.

The auditors found the company’s future was jeopardized by its financial losses, weak cash reserves, an inability to meet certain financial obligations and an overall balance sheet showing the company’s liabilities exceeded its assets.

Maui Land has had to write off all the money it initially invested in the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences at Kapalua Bay, a luxury condo and hotel development that’s suffered from higher-than-expected default rates and lower revenue forecasts for future sales.

Hawaii seeks lessees for state ag land – Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it is accepting applications for lease negotiations on five parcels of ag land.

Two parcels are located in Hanapepe, Kauai, and three are in Waimanalo, Oahu. They range in size from 1.4 to 6.7 acres.

Potential lessees must be U.S. citizens who have been Hawaii residents for at least three years, and bona fide farmers as defined in Hawaii Administrative Rules.

The leases are for 35-year terms and are limited to diversified agriculture use.

The deadline to submit applications for the parcels to the state’s Agricultural Resource Management Division is Jan. 14.

For more information, visit hawaii.gov/hdoa/info.

Hawaii seeks lessees for state ag land – Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

Okolehao – The Maui News

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Okolehao

Maui distillery serves up a sip of history
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

POSTED: December 27, 2009

MAKAWAO – Hilo Hattie sang about the cockeyed mayor of Kaunakakai, who "drank a gallon of oke to make life worthwhile."

But it couldn’t have happened recently, since genuine okolehao has not been distilled (legally, anyway) for at least 40 years and probably longer.

Haleakala Distillers, Maui’s only rum-maker, is introducing Maui Okolehao Liqueur, made from ti root grown in East Maui, and enhanced with evaporated cane juice from Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.

Only 200 cases were made, and master distiller Jim Sargent said it may take nine months before another batch comes through.

His wife and managing director, Leslie Sargent, said it has been so long since anybody made "oke" that there was no information to be found about how to do it.

"The whole process had to be derived from scratch," said Jim Sargent, a.k.a. Braddah Kimo. "We have taken quite some time to distill an authentic, 100 percent Maui-made all natural spirit."

Because of federal liquor regulations, the tipple is a liqueur, rather than the skullbuster that was invented in the 19th century.