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A merger or sale of Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc. may be considered as financial losses for the Honolulu-based company continue to mount.
Pacific Office, which owns a collection of office buildings in Hawaii, California and Arizona, noted the possibility in a financial report filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said a sale or merger along with other business combination or recapitalization moves are among "strategic alternatives" that it might consider.
Larry Taff, Pacific Office president and chief executive officer, said sale or merger discussions aren’t ongoing, but could happen in the future.
The financial report said Pacific Office lost $4.1 million in the second quarter. That compared with a $1.6 million profit in the same quarter last year generated by a $5.4 million gain on the sale of First Insurance Center on Ward Avenue for $70.5 million.
Pacific Office has struggled financially since it was formed by local commercial real estate investor Jay Shidler in 2008 just before the office market was shaken by the economic recession. Over the last two years, the company has sold stakes in a few buildings and lost several to foreclosure.
At the end of June, Pacific Office said it owned 11 properties — four by itself and seven through joint ventures. All four wholly owned properties are in Honolulu: Clifford Center, Waterfront Plaza, Davies Pacific Center and the Pan Am Building. The company at one time owned 24 office properties.
Shares of Pacific Office stock closed at 30 cents Monday, unchanged from Friday but down from 41 cents on Thursday when the financial report was released.
