The O‘ahu-based construction giant Honsador Holding announced in a press release the acquisition of Kapa‘a’s Aloha Lumber yesterday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aloha Lumber Director of Business Development Geri Gallagher said the 25-year-old company will continue to
The O‘ahu-based construction giant Honsador Holding announced in a press release the acquisition of Kapa‘a’s Aloha Lumber yesterday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Aloha Lumber Director of Business Development Geri Gallagher said the 25-year-old company will continue to operate under the same name, and customers will not see any major changes.
“Customers are legitimately concerned about monopoly issues,” she said.
Gallagher said the combined markets of Aloha Lumber and Honsador Holding (which has a Honsador Lumber operation at Nawiliwili) would make
up about 75 percent of Kaua‘i’s construction business, but that customers should not anticipate any increases in prices.
Though she acknowledged the market consolidation of Kaua‘i, citing several recent mergers and acquisitions, Gallagher said other major distributors moving in will keep prices steady.
“There’s plenty of competition out there,” she said.
Honsador Holding was acquired by Key Principal Partners, a venture capital firm with offices in Cleveland and San Francisco, in 2004.
Gallagher could not say what the long-term future held, but for the time being, Aloha Lumber and its 36 employees are safe.
“Aloha Lumber will remain Aloha Lumber, and the same for Honsador, but we’ll borrow the best from each and apply to both,” said Jeff Mira, who is now general manager of both the Honsador and Aloha Lumber Kaua‘i operations.
Honsador Holding is the parent company for several subsidiaries: Honsador Lumber, the largest wholesale-building-products distributor in Hawai‘i; Honolulu Wood Treating, a wood-treatment company; and Ariel Truss, one of the largest roof-truss manufacturers in the state.
In a Honsador Lumber press release, Chief Executive Officer Carl Liliequist said with Aloha Lumber in the fold, Honsador Holding’s 2006 revenues are forecasted to be $200 million.
Gallagher said Aloha Lumber, with retail outlets in Kapa‘a and Kilauea, had about $18 million in revenues in 2005, and is already up 6 percent in 2006.
Both Aloha Lumber and Honsador Lumber, which has 26 employees, hope to complete “team-blending” within three months, followed by complete customer-service revisions and software-systems upgrades in nine months to a year.
Gallagher said Aloha Lumber was never put out to bid, but that the sale resulted from six months of informal and formal negotiations.
Aloha Lumber owners Randy Boyer and Russ Boyer recently won a U.S. Small Business Association award for Small Business Persons of the Year for Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, and the Western region.
• Ford Gunter, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or fgunter@kauaipubco.com.
