Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has completed its previously announced purchase of Grace Pacific LLC, making the Kapolei-based asphalt contractor with 560 employees a wholly owned subsidiary of A&B.
The $277 million deal for Grace was disclosed in June and completed Tuesday, A&B said.
The Grace acquisition will allow A&B to begin paying a dividend to shareholders. A&B’s board approved a fourth-quarter dividend of 4 cents per share, payable Dec. 5 to shareholders of record as of the close of business Nov. 7.
A&B ceased paying dividends last year after it spun off its ocean cargo transportation subsidiary Matson Navigation Co. into a separate company now known as Matson Inc.
The Grace purchase was financed by A&B mainly by issuing $200 million in A&B stock to Grace shareholders. Another $35 million is cash. A&B also assumed $42 million of Grace debt.
In other announcements Tuesday, A&B said it intends to acquire control of a resort retail complex on Kauai that it developed with a partner, and that it has sold more than $40 million in real estate to help finance its recently acquired Pearl Highlands Center retail complex on Oahu.
The Kauai shopping center to be acquired is Shops at Kukuiula, which A&B developed in 2009 with a joint-venture partner, Arizona-based DMB Associates Inc.
Shops at Kukuiula has 78,900 square feet of retail space and is 84 percent occupied with tenants that include Tommy Bahama, Quiksilver, Living Foods, Josselin’s Tapas Bar & Grill, Merriman’s Fishhouse and Tortilla Republic Grill.
A&B expects the value of the center to grow over time but said its takeover should negatively effect the value of its original investment in the joint venture.
Two mortgages tied to the center totaling $51 million mature soon, though A&B said it is finalizing a deal to refinance the loans.
Regarding a separate shopping complex acquisition completed last month, A&B said Tuesday that it financed its purchase of Pearl Highlands Center partially with proceeds from three property sales.
One involved 209 acres in Central Maui sold to Maui County for $5.2 million. A&B, which farms sugar cane in Central Maui, said the sale won’t adversely affect sugar production capacity.
The other two property sales identified by A&B on Tuesday were an industrial site in Utah and an office property in Washington that generated $37 million in proceeds going to the Pearl Highlands purchase.
A&B bought Pearl Highlands last month for $141.5 million, including the assumption of a $59.3 million mortgage.
