Hawaii's slumping economy is leading to an upturn in one area: M&A activity.

Last week's merger between struggling interisland carriers go! and Mokulule Airlines was just the latest in a string of high-profile consolidations brought on by the bleak economy

On Monday, television stations KGMB9, KHNL and K5 will kick off the merger of its newsroom and business operations.

Owners of the the stations, Raycom Media of Alabama and MCG Capital Corp. of Virginia, said the so-called shared services agreement was brought on by a $20 million, or 30 percent, decline in the local television advertising market.

Ownership of  bankruptcy local clothing retailer Hilo Hattie also changed hands earlier this summer while Times Super Markets recently acquired Star Market, in a deal that allows the Times chain to better compete with market leaders Safeway Stores and Foodland.

With Hawaii's economy continuing to struggle, expect to see more mergers and acquisitions. That may mean further consolidation and downsizing.

Tags: go!, Hawaii economy, Hilo Hattie, K5, KGMB9, KHNL, Mesa Air Group, Mokulele Airlines, Republic Airways

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Biz Bites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.