Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 13

LtertgsgDrat Today's market NYSE. Up: Dow Jones NG mm Based on 20 percent down, owner-occupied mortgages. Rates and terms vary; check with tenders for Down! 762 stocks At: 3,321.10 Volume: 184,500,000 10.26 438.80 0.82 Section Wednesday, December 30, 1 992 Siar-XkHeHn Parent of KITV-could be reorganized Terms Interest Points American 1 I Savlnas 15-year fixed 734 2 5avlngS 1-year ARM 578 2 BanK of fj Hawaii l5yeaS 4 1 -year ARM 5 2 First 30-year fixed 8 38 2 Hawaiian 15-year fixec 778 2 1 -year ARM 512 2 Bank of Sfiaed 818 2 America 15-year fixed 758 2 America j.yearARM 514 2 FHAVA 30-year fixed 8 2 lEitilicfw jiuiup Sourer Cok8arMcCwa flea) Estate. Star-Bulletin tlement, agreed to earlier this month, means that Tak will drop his opposition to a reorganization plan that creditor representatives proposed in November. That plan, subject to a creditor vote and approvals by the Bankruptcy Court and the Federal Communications Commission, calls for Tak Communications to remain in business and to operate its properties, including four TV stations in Wisconsin.

Debts would be paid off over time. However, the company would be placed under new management, yet to be named, which would have the power to replace existing officers and would issue new Tak Communications stock. KITV-4 General Manager Dick Schaller today said he didn't anticipate any changes in the way the station operates. He noted that a hearing on the reorganization is scheduled for Wednesday at the Bankruptcy Court in The new stock would be distributed to certain classes of the company's creditors. Banks would get 20 percent of the new stock.

Creditors with subordinated claims would get 77 percent. The remainder would go to creditors -with unsubordinated claims. The current stock, all owned by Sharad Tak, would be eliminated. Tak, in exchange for his agreement to drop opposition to the plan, would remain with the company as a consultant and chairman of the board. He would be paid $300,000 a year as long as he retains both jobs.

In addition, he would receive an office and secretary and up to $1.5 million. Tak Communications filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of bankruptcy law in January 1991 after missing loan payments. The company has claims against it of $269 million, according to the documents. Creditors of Tak Communications submit plan to get new management From staff and wire reports MADISON, Wise. Tak Communications the Virginia-based broadcasting chain whose operations include Honolulu's KITV-4, will be reorganized under new ownership if agreements aimed at resolving the company's 2-year-old bankruptcy case are approved.

According to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Madison, Sharad Tak, Tak Communications' founder and owner, and the company's creditors have settled a dispute that threatened to delay and complicate the reorganization process. Documents show that the set MONEY WATCH By Dan Dorman But sales of new homes plunged 8.3 in November Associated Press WASHINGTON The government's chief economic forecasting gauge leapt 0.8 percent in November, the strongest gain in 10 months, the Commerce Department said today. The increase in the Index of Leading Indicators, the second in a row, was a sign that President-elect Clinton will enjoy an improving economy during his first months in office. Traditionally, economists regard three consecutive movements of the index in the same direction as an indication of economic activity six to nine months in advance.

The November jump, which was in the range anticipated by economists, followed a 0.5 percen- Planner gives advice on investing in 1993 ONSUMER confidence is heating up. Still, the new year, given a new president, is full of uncertainties. What's more, the economic recovery is painfully slow. Who tadvance in Oc- Retail sales climb, and stocks follow 140 Daily prices. Sept.

23 100. New homo sales Seasonally adjusted annual rate, thousands of units 130 120 660- t.l 640- Retailers' sales and stock prices are springing back even as analysts wonder how long the trend will last. Johnson Redbook, an industry service, said yesterday that sales had jumped 10.4 percent this month, compared with December of last year. Among the bargain seekers are investors who have been snapping up shares of retailers that were scorned until recently. One retailer whose stock has benefited is Tiffany Company, it rode anafysts' recommendations and increasing sales to a $3,625 gain yesterday, closing at $33,125 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stock added another $1 .375 today, to $34.50. i620- I 31 600- 110 90 I Index of tober. Before that, the index had declined during three of the previous four months. November's rise was the strongest since a 1.7 percent gain in January. "It was a solid number.

Gains were both good-sized and widespread. It wasn't just a fluke," said economist Robert G. Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. "The conditions for future growth are clearly present." In a separate report, the de specialty retailers 560 540 1 3 Dec Nov.

Oct Sept 520 Source: Bloomberg Business News, Dalastraam 500 HUH JUMfluTUUUUUUL FMAM A SON 18911992 Nov. 31 Oct.92 Nov. '92 knows if Clinton's policies will work? And the rate of return we get on our money market funds and bank CDs is meager. It raises the question: Where do you invest in '93? For some answers, I rang up a leading financial planner Madeline Noveck, chairman of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners. Her '93 strategy, a big shift from '92: Put 65 cents of every investment dollar into equities or equitylike securities, like preferred stocks and convertible bonds; 35 cents in bonds.

Big appeal of many of her equity and bond picks: dividend yields of over 8 percent. "Don't just sit and wait for a robust economy to bring you capital gains; cushion yourself with dividends," says Noveck, head of New York's Novos Planning Associates. Noveck figures '93 economic growth will run 3 percent about half its usual rise in the first year after a recession. Granted, she sees a further pickup in consumer confidence and big replacement demand for aging autos and appliances. But she says it will take time for Clinton's programs to create new jobs and really get the economy rolling.

When I caught up with her a year ago, Noveck pitched up to 60 percent in bonds since she saw long-term interest rates dipping closer to sharply lower short-term rates. She now pegs 30-year Treasury bond yields, currently 7.4 percent, at 7V5i to 7 percent in '93 in other words, no big deal for bonds. She believes rates may rise since we're still competing with lofty European rates and there's fear of more inflation in '93. You might think Noveck's a big market bull, given her lofty equity allocation. But she's really not.

She sees the Dow Industrials, now 3330, up a modest 10 percent to 3650 by year-end '93. "The rising tide lifted all boats in the '80s but it'll be more selective now," she says. In equities, a favorite where she'd put 10 cents of every dollar is real estate investment trusts (REITs). She sees real estate, a dog since the late '80s, improving in a better economy. Some REITs get income from rentals and property sales.

Others lend to developers. REITs usually pay out 95 percent of earnings as dividends. Noveck sees REITs gaining as rents stabilize and occupancy rises. They will also be a big source of financing, she says, since many banks and insurers, typical real estate lenders, are still troubled. Noveck likes the Real Estate Securities Income Fund, which invests in different REITs.

It trades on the American Stock Exchange at $7 and yields 8.6 percent. She sees a total return of at least 17 percent in 12 months in line with last year. Another Noveck equity play is Lindner Dividend Fund, St. Louis (minimum investment: yield: over 8 percent). Its big holdings: stocks, preferred stocks and convertible bonds.

She also likes Putnam Health Sciences Fund (minimum investment: $500) and Financial Strategic Health Sciences Portfolio, (minimum Investment: $250). Both invest in everything from biotechs and drug makers to companies geared to paring down health care costs. In bonds, Noveck favors high-yield issues. She sees more economic zing beefing up the credit picture of many companies. She also likes foreign bonds, given slow but falling foreign rates.

Two bond funds she likes are Oppenheimer Strategic Income Fund, (minimum investment: yield: 8.7 percent) and Putnam Diversified Income Fund, Boston (minimum investment: $500; yield: 9.1 Eercent). Both invest in high-yield and foreign onds and U.S. government securities. A more conservative pick is Government Income Securities (minimum investment: yield: 8 percent). It holds mortgage-backed securities.

Dan Dorfman, a veteran of Wall Street, writes a weekly column that appears Wednesday in Hawaii Inc. His assistant, Jerilyn Klein, contributed to this article. New York Times Wall Street raises record $838 billion Stock and bond offerings surge Associated Press NEW YORK While much of the nation was mired in a recession this year, it was boom time on Wall Street. Wall Street brokerage houses raised a record $838 billion through stock and bond offerings in 1992, thanks in part to extremely low interest rates, according to a report released yesterday. That total amount of undraising, called underwriting, was 42 percent higher than 1991's total of $590 billion, also a record.

The bottom line for these securities firms: record fees charged for the underwriting, said Securities Data which compiled the data. Wall Street brokerage houses took in more than $6.7 billion in fees they charged clients in exchange for raising the funds through stock and bond sales. That's an increase of almost 45 percent from last year's record fee total of $4.7 billion. Merrill Lynch Co. remained the No.

1 underwriter of new stock and bonds for the fifth straight year. The brokerage raised $138 billion, or 16.5 percent of the industry total. still around for the year's last trading day gathered on the floor of the stock exchange for the rhythmic band clapping that traditionally marks ceremonial occasions here. With most investors absent this week for the winter holiday, technical sell programs took a heavy toll on stock prices, brokers said. Disappointment that a hoped-for year-end rally had failed to materialize also weighed on the market.

But hopes that the approaching Year of the Rooster will give Tokyo's investors something to crow about may be premature. The outlook for corporate earnings remains bleak, analysts say, and the market may take another tumble in early 1993 due to selling linked to the cancellation of fund trusts and tokkin, which are trust accounts companies set up for short-term trading, ahead of the end of the fiscal year on March 31. Total turnover on the market's first section in 1992 as of Dec. 25 amounted to 65.1 billion shares, a TSE spokesman said. That was about a quarter of the total volume posted in 1991.

Based on current projections, the final figure for this year will likely be the lowest since 1975. The total value of the shares traded this year as of Dec. 25 was 59 trillion yen ($475 billion), about half of last year's total. Securities analysts attributed the Nikkei's sluggishness and the big drop in turnover to continuing fears over the depth and extent of Japan's economic slowdown since the bursting of its "bubble economy" of inflated asset and stock prices in 1990. Japanese stocks dove 26 in '02 The Nikkei closed! i 56.5 lower than the high set in 1989 Reuters TOKYO Somber-suited traders and officials of the Tokyo Stock Exchange clapped out the old year today in traditional style and with a sigh of relief.

Few regretted the passing of 1992, in which the key 225-share Nikkei average plumbed six-year lows and annual turnover was at its weakest in 17 years. The Nikkei slumped 360.69 points, a little over 2 percent, to end today's final half-day session of trading at 16,924.95. Today's close was down 6,058.82 points, or 26.36 percent from its 1991 finish of 22,983.77 points. The finish was 56.5 percent below the Nikkei's record high closing of 38,915.87 posted at the end of 1989. The Nikkei finished comfortably above a 77-month closing low of 14,309.41 posted on Aug.

18. "People are certainly relieved to get 1992, the bear market's third consecutive year, behind them," said broker George Nimmo of SBCI Securities. When the session ended, those partment said new home sales in November fell 8.3 percent, the worst drop in eight months, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 565,000 units. That followed an 8.2 percent decline in October, revised up from an initial estimate of a 10.3 percent decline. Economists weren't expecting the November drop but they weren't overly concerned because the department this year has consistently revised up its initial sales estimates.

From Hilton Head island, President-elect Clinton said though a spokesman: "There's hope and optimism in the country that things are going to get better. What we have to do now is keep interest rates down and get growth going." In November, eight of the leading index's 11 forward-looking indicators turned positive. In the order of their contribution to the increase, from largest to smallest, they were: A 16 percent jump in consumer confidence levels as measured by a University of Michigan survey. The post-election confidence gain was the largest since March 1991, toward the end of the Persian Gulf War. An increase in the average workweek from 41.1 hours in October to 41.3 hours in November.

A 20,000 drop in the weekly average of new unemployment claims to 372,000. A 2.5 percent rise in stock prices as measured by the Standard Poor's 500. A slowdown in the delivery times of goods, a sign that businesses were less easily meeting demand. An increase in new orders to factories for consumer goods. A rise in the backlog of unfilled orders at factories.

And, an increase in the inflation-adjusted money supply. Three of the indicators detracted from the index's gain. They included a decline in the prices of raw materials, a drop in building permits and a decrease in new contracts for buildings. EXECUTIVE PROFILE Crime fighter turns litigator NEWSWATCH Key rates in percent 1 I III LOOKING AHEAD PRIME RATE 6 00 6.00 6.50 FEDERAL FUNDS 4.0J 3-MO. TREAS, BILLS BILLS 3,33,, 3,38...

3,85 I.J..1...I I Tomorrow: The Labor Department will report on weekly jobless claims. 30-YR. TREAS. BONDS 7.36 7.40 7.39 Source: Salomon Brothers and Telerate After 21 years of prosecuting crimes on the Big Island, Jon R. Ono is becoming downright civil.

Ono retired Dec. 7 as the Big Island county prosecutor and on Monday will begin work in the Hi-lo office of the firm of Torkildson, Katz, Jossem, Fonseca, Jaffe, Moore Heth-erington. Ono moved to the Big Island from Honolulu in 1971 to join the prosecutor's office as a deputy. He was elected county prosecutor every four years since 1978. Ono became best known for his prosecution in 1980 of un FARCUS David Waisglass-Gordon Coulthart Name: Jon R.

Ono Age: 46 Position: Lawyer First Job: Carpet and drapery worker Favorite pastime: Golf and fishing name Max Factor International. said it has been upgrading Max Factor since buying the product line last year from Revlon Inc. for $1.06 billion. also plans to include increase advertising spending to promote the line. Hawaii, in brief Kahi Mohala Hospital has been acquired by Sutter Health and is being converted to a not-for-profit community hospital.

The seller in the deal, which had been previously disclosed, was Healthcare International and Healthvest, which continues to own the facility and will lease it to Sutter. Terms of the deal were not released. Tiffany Co. plans to expand its boutique in the Sheraton Moana Surf rider Hotel. Pearl Highlands Center is the new name for what formerly was called the Hawaii Power Center, a complex that will be anchored by Sam's Club.

Also, the center has named Kandell Advertising to handle its advertising, marketing and public relations. Louis Vultton has opened a boutique in Whaler's Village at Kaanapali Beach on Maui. Jeans Warehouse plans to build a store in the Ka-polei Shopping Center. Ihilani Resort Spa at Ko Olina has named Mllici Valenti Gabriel DDB Needbam Worldwide Advertising to create and manage a national ad campaign. From staff and wire reports Gerber plans to spin off Buster Brown subsidiary Gerber Products Co.

said today that its Buster Brown Apparel Inc. subsidiary would be spun off in a management-led buyout. Terms of the deal, scheduled to close in January, were not disclosed. Buster Brown, a 90-year-old Chattanooga, company that makes and markets children's clothing and hosiery, has been a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Gerber since 1983. Buster Brown management are being joined by Chemical Venture Partners, an affiliate of Checmical Banking and Apollo Advisors, an invoestment fund that es in the apparel industry.

Diet Coke to introduce new slogan: Taste it AH' Diet Coke, the nation's third best-selling soft drink, is changing its tune as it enters its second decade. Gone as of New Year's Day will be the "Just For The Taste of It" slogan that has been in place since the product's inception in 1982. The slogan will be replaced by "Taste it All" and "One Awesome Calorie" as The Coca-Cola Co. launches a new advertising campaign for Diet Coke. Diet Coke's familiar white and red cans and bottles will be altered slightly to include the new slogans.

Coke officials yesterday confirmed the changes but would not comment on the reasons nor reveal details of the new ads. The new Diet Coke ads will be the first visible sign of the annual January renewal of the cola wars. Rival Pepsico Inc. is planning a big splash for its new Crystal Pepsi, culminating in an ad blitz during the Super Bowl telecast. Procter Gamble revamps Factor line Procter Gamble Co.

plans to market its revamped Max Factor cosmetics line worldwide in May with a broader palette of eyeshadow and blush colors, a company spokesman said. The new lineup will be introduced simultaneously in the United States, Europe and Japan, the spokesman said yesterday. The revamped cosmetics will be sold under the uniform product A derworld figure Alvin Kaohu, who was convicted of manslaughter, and a murder case against fellow gangster Henry Huihui, who entered into a plea agreement. Ono said it is unlikely his new job will take him back inside the courtroom. "At this point, litigation is not really in the future for me.

We have some fine civil litigators in the firm." Instead, he will focus his efforts on business and real-estate law, labor-management law and lobbying the Legislature. "It's a different kind of excitement," Ono said. "We're looking at a business type of atmosphere rather than strictly law." Lee Cattejall, Star-Bulletin "Noxt tlmo you do that, you're fired!".