Princess Kaiulani upgrade still to proceed

The parent company of Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Sheraton hotels in Waikiki, said the ownership change announced last week will have no effect on its plans for a $500 million upgrade of the Princess Kaiu­lani Hotel.

Kokusai Kogyo Holdings Co., the parent of Kyo-ya, bought out Cerberus Capital Management LP’s controlling interest in the company.

"The transaction, completed on Friday in Japan, will have no effect on its plans to upgrade the Princess Kaiu­lani Hotel or its relationship with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Management Co., who manages the hotel properties in Hawaii and Cali­for­nia," Koku­sai Kogyo said in a news release Monday.

The news release did not mention Kyo-ya’s plans for building a new hotel tower on the site of the Moana Surfrider.

Kyo-ya, which employs more than 3,500 workers, owns the Sheraton Waikiki Resort; the Moana Surfrider Hotel, A Westin Resort and Spa; the Royal Hawaiian, A Luxury Collection Resort; the Sheraton Princess Kaiu­lani; and the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa; as well as the San Francisco-based The Palace Hotel, A Luxury Collection Hotel.

As part of the ownership change, Greg Dickhens, president of Kyo-ya, left the company to pursue other business interests after more than eight years with Kyo-ya.

In the news release Monday, Koku­sai Kogyo said Kyo-ya will be led by Koku­sai Kogyo President Taka­masa Osano, Nobu­tada Nagai, Victor Kimura and Cyrus Oda.

Ernie Nishizaki, Kyo-ya’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, left the company following the ownership change. His last day was Friday.

Cardax stock soars in public trading debut

Shares of Cardax Inc., formerly known as Cardax Pharmaceuticals, rose sharply on the first day of public trading for the Hono­lulu-based biotech firm.

Cardax opened at $1.50 a share and rose as high as $3.25 a share before closing at $3.05 Monday in the over-the-counter market. Trading volume was 5,200 shares.

Cardax finalized its move to become a publicly traded company Friday when it completed a reverse merger with Houston-based Koffee Korner Inc.

The procedure used by Cardax was a simpler way of taking a company public than with a standard initial public offering because Koffee Korner had already met shareholder requirements for publicly traded companies.

Koffee Corner shares closed at 50 cents on Friday before the reverse merger was completed. Cardax has applied to trade under the ticker symbol CDXI. Shares will continue to trade under Koffee Korner’s existing symbol, KOFF, for about a week until the change is approved.

Astaxanthin shortage sinks Cyanotech

Kona-based Cyanotech Corp., which produces nutrition and health products from microalgae, saw its net income sink 94.1 percent in its fiscal third quarter after the company said it couldn’t meet demand for the dietary supplement astaxanthin. Cyanotech had net income of $36,000, or 1 cent a share, compared with $607,000, or 11 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose 2.7 percent to $7.4 million from $7.2 million.

Cyanotech President and CEO Brent Bailey said the company couldn’t keep pace with astaxanthin demand due to continued strong growth in that market and environmental factors that affected the quantity, but not the quality, of the company’s output.

"Lower production rates are expected to continue through the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014," Bailey said. "Since our bulk business utilizes the lion’s share of our astaxanthin raw material, it was disproportionately impacted."

Google passes Exxon to be No. 2 U.S. firm

NEW YORK » Google has passed Exxon to become the second most valuable U.S. company by market capitalization.

The Internet company’s market capitalization surpassed that of oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. last week, according to FactSet data. As of Monday’s market close, Google’s market cap was $393.91 billion compared with the oil company’s $391.07 billion. Shares of Google Inc. have been on a steady climb since the beginning of 2013, gaining 65.8 percent.

Market capitalization is the number of outstanding shares multiplied by their value.

Meanwhile, Exxon’s have risen just 3.4 percent. Since the beginning of this year, they’ve lost 11.5 percent of their value.

Both companies trail Apple Inc.’s market capitalization of $471.85 billion.

ON THE MOVE

Nathan Kam has been named president of Anthology Marketing Group’s public relations practice, McNeil Wilson Communications. Kam, whose appointment is effective March 1, joined the agency 14 years ago and presently is executive vice president. He succeeds David McNeil, who remains chairman of Anthology.

Kuakini Health System has hired Earl Strotman as managing director of facilities management. He previously served as a safety officer and director of plant operations at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, Calif.

Hawaiian Host has promoted Laura Ward to assistant product development manager. Prior to her promotion, Ward was a marketing coordinator who assisted in marketing efforts throughout the company.

SHIP AHOY!

Tuesday’s ship arrivals and departures:

HONOLULU HARBOR