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- BUSINESS, Page 85Business NotesDEALSTake My Bank, Please
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- The man with the golden touch has struck it rich again --
- or has he? Former Treasury Secretary William Simon reaped a $66
- million profit when he and fellow investors acquired Gibson
- Greetings in 1982 and sold the card company back to public
- stockholders 16 months later. That windfall helped create the
- 1980s boom in leveraged buyouts and established Simon's
- reputation as a master of mouth-watering financial deals.
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- Simon now stands to pocket an estimated $20 million by
- selling First Interstate of Hawaii, which owns the state's
- fourth largest bank, to First Hawaiian, the second largest
- banking firm, for about $140 million. Simon's investment group
- paid $31 million for First Interstate when it acquired the
- holding company last year.
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- But the Justice Department has urged the Federal Reserve
- Board to reject Simon's latest deal on the ground that it would
- substantially lessen competition among Hawaii's banks. In its
- application, First Hawaiian, which has 58 branches, said it
- would sell three offices outside Honolulu once the merger was
- approved. Bank officials had hoped the step would help
- eliminate antitrust objections to the purchase of First
- Interstate. Even if the Federal Reserve ultimately approves the
- merger, Justice could go to court to block the deal.
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