ALTRES Inc. has purchased Maui-based KilaKila Employer Services Inc., but both entities will move forward from the Jan. 1 effective date as if the deal were a true merger, officials said Thursday.

"In so many ways it really acts as a merger," said ALTRES President and CEO Barron Guss. "This isn’t where we’re buying the company and dissolving its identity. We are really leaving everything in place, its management office is still there, its customers will be treated the same way, they’ll pay the same rates, everything." All 145 employees of both companies, 130 at ALTRES and 15 at KilaKila, will be retained.

"The most important asset KilaKila has is its customers," Guss said, "and we want to make them comfortable."

Terms of the deal were "favorable to both parties," chuckled Guss, but were otherwise undisclosed.

ALTRES offers staffing services as well as outsourced human resources, benefits administration, government compliance tracking and other services for its employer-customers. KilaKila also is a PEO, or Professional Employer Organization, that offers such back-office services to its employer-customers.

Both entities will retain their names, logos and branding, which was "the way we both wanted to handle it, a no-brainer," said KilaKila founder Carole Kooy. She will assume the title of regional vice president and continue her role of oversight and guidance. Her daughter Ryanda Sarraude will become regional director of client relations but will continue to manage day-to-day operations from KilaKila’s Pukalani base.

A big "why" behind the deal is ALTRES’ proprietary, trademarked HR Symphony information system that integrates all services offered. The system can be accessed via desktop computer, as one might expect, but "our system allows you to look at everything," Guss said, including paychecks, attendance, 401(k) data, also from a user’s remote device, he said. ALTRES’ benefits packages, available to companies with hundreds of employees or just one, include fitness memberships, theme park passes, discounted movie tickets, an employee assistance program and a so-called cafeteria plan, all of which will be added to KilaKila’s offerings.

The Pukalani offices will be bolstered with additional staff from ALTRES, which will assist in rolling out the soon-to-be-enhanced suite of services to KilaKila clients.

Kooy had for years been searching for an integrated information system such as she saw at ALTRES, but "it was cost-prohibitive for such a small business," she said. The transaction will allow KilaKila to not only keep its client base, "but this will bring so much more to the table for our clients and our staff," she said.

Sweet! Doing more with more — how novel.

Pele’s siren call

As everyone rushes headlong into the ūber-busy holiday season — now even shorter with the passing of Black Friday and Cyber Monday — it’s time for Hawaii’s advertising industry to prepare entries for the 2011-12 Pele Awards.

Entry details are online at aafhawaii.com/2011-12PeleAwards.

Staged by the American Advertising Federation — Hawaii Chapter, the annual awards represent a regional ADDY Award, and top Hawaii winners automatically will be entered into the national ADDY competition. Those will be presented at the annual AAF Conference June 1-4 in San Diego.

Key dates for contenders are the Jan. 17 entry deadline and the Feb. 3 late-entry deadline. Judging will take place Feb. 26 and 27, according to Pele Awards Chairman Paul Lam, who is now flying solo following the retirement of longtime gala maven Barbara Scott.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.