In Brief: Hawaiian Company Sets Up Poison Pill

CPB Inc., the Honolulu-based parent of Central Pacific Bank. said Thursday that its board has approved the adoption of a shareholder-rights plan.

The rights plan, or poison pill, will kick in if a would-be buyer deemed "adverse" by the board tries to purchase 10% of CPB stock, or if anyone attempts to acquire 15%.

Joichi Saito, chairman and chief executive officer at $1.5 billion-asset CPB, said he is unaware of any hostile takeover attempts. But given the frenzied pace of bank consolidation, he said, the company needed to take steps to guard "unsolicited or coercive" offers.

"The plan represent a prudent step in protecting the long-term value of our shareholders' investment," he said.

CPB also announced that it will offer shareholders a dividend of one preferred-share purchase right for each share of stock owned. The dividend will be available to all shareholders of record as of Sept. 16.

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