Asked to compare her visit to Mr. Mosbacher 's Mrs. Hills replied I did n't hear every word he spoke but as a general proposition I think we have a very consistent trade strategy in the Bush administration

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Yet more than one American official who sat in with her during three days of talks with Japanese officials said her tone often was surprisingly conciliatory

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I think my line has been very consistent Mrs. Hills said at a news conference Saturday afternoon

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I am painted sometimes as ferocious perhaps because I have a ferocious list of statutes to implement

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I do n't feel very ferocious

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I do n't feel either hard or soft

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I feel committed to the program of opening markets and expanding trade

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When she met the local press for the first time on Friday Mrs. Hills firmly reiterated the need for progress in removing barriers to trade in forest products satellites and supercomputers three areas targeted under the Super 301 provision of the 1988 trade bill

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She highlighted exclusionary business practices that the U.S. government has identified

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But her main thrust was to promote the importance of world-wide free trade and open competition

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She said the trade imbalance was mainly due to macroeconomic factors and should n't be tackled by setting quantitative targets

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At her news conference for Japanese reporters one economics journalist summed up the Japanese sense of relief

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My impression was that you would be a scary old lady he said drawing a few nervous chuckles from his colleagues

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But I am relieved to see that you are beautiful and gentle and intelligent and a person of integrity

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Mrs. Hills ' remarks did raise questions at least among some U.S. officials about what exactly her stance is on U.S. access to the Japanese semiconductor market

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The U.S. share of the Japanese market has been stuck around 10 % for years

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Many Americans have interpreted a 1986 agreement as assuring U.S. companies a 20 % share by 1991 but the Japanese have denied making any such promise

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At one of her news conferences Mrs. Hills said I believe we can do much better than 20 %

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But she stressed I am against managed trade

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I will not enter into an agreement that stipulates to a percentage of the market

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Japan 's wholesale prices in September rose 3.3 % from a year earlier and were up 0.4 % from the previous month the Bank of Japan announced Friday

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The wholesale price index stood at 90.1 compared with a 1985 base of 100

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Ports of Call Inc. reached agreements to sell its remaining seven aircraft to buyers that were n't disclosed

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The agreements bring to a total of nine the number of planes the travel company has sold this year as part of a restructuring

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The company said a portion of the 32 million realized from the sales will be used to repay its bank debt and other obligations resulting from the currently suspended air-charter operations

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Earlier the company announced it would sell its aging fleet of Boeing Co. 707s because of increasing maintenance costs

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A consortium of private investors operating as LJH Funding Co. said it has made a 409 million cash bid for most of L.J. Hooker Corp. 's real-estate and shopping-center holdings

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The 409 million bid includes the assumption of an estimated 300 million in secured liabilities on those properties according to those making the bid

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The group is led by Jay Shidler chief executive officer of Shidler Investment Corp. in Honolulu and A. Boyd Simpson chief executive of the Atlanta-based Simpson Organization Inc

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Mr. Shidler 's company specializes in commercial real-estate investment and claims to have 1 billion in assets Mr. Simpson is a developer and a former senior executive of L.J. Hooker

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The assets are good but they require more money and management than can be provided in L.J. Hooker 's current situation said Mr. Simpson in an interview

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Hooker 's philosophy was to build and sell

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We want to build and hold

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L.J. Hooker based in Atlanta is operating with protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code

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Its parent company Hooker Corp. of Sydney Australia is currently being managed by a court-appointed provisional liquidator

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Sanford Sigoloff chief executive of L.J. Hooker said yesterday in a statement that he has not yet seen the bid but that he would review it and bring it to the attention of the creditors committee

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The 409 million bid is estimated by Mr. Simpson as representing 75 % of the value of all Hooker real-estate holdings in the U.S.

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Not included in the bid are Bonwit Teller or B. Altman & Co. L.J. Hooker 's department-store chains

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The offer covers the massive 1.8 million-square-foot Forest Fair Mall in Cincinnati the 800,000 square-foot Richland Fashion Mall in Columbia S.C. and the 700,000 square-foot Thornton Town Center mall in Thornton Colo

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The Thornton mall opened Sept. 19 with a Bigg 's hypermarket as its anchor the Columbia mall is expected to open Nov. 15

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Other Hooker properties included are a 20-story office tower in midtown Atlanta expected to be completed next February vacant land sites in Florida and Ohio L.J. Hooker International the commercial real-estate brokerage company that once did business as Merrill Lynch Commercial Real Estate plus other shopping centers

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The consortium was put together by Hoare Govett the London-based investment banking company that is a subsidiary of Security Pacific Corp

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We do n't anticipate any problems in raising the funding for the bid said Allan Campbell the head of mergers and acquisitions at Hoare Govett in an interview

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Hoare Govett is acting as the consortium 's investment bankers

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According to people familiar with the consortium the bid was code-named Project Klute a reference to the film Klute in which a prostitute played by actress Jane Fonda is saved from a psychotic businessman by a police officer named John Klute

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L.J. Hooker was a small home-building company based in Atlanta in 1979 when Mr. Simpson was hired to push it into commercial development

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The company grew modestly until 1986 when a majority position in Hooker Corp. was acquired by Australian developer George Herscu currently Hooker 's chairman

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Mr. Herscu proceeded to launch an ambitious but ill-fated 1 billion acquisition binge that included Bonwit Teller and B. Altman & Co. as well as majority positions in Merksamer Jewelers a Sacramento chain Sakowitz Inc. the Houston-based retailer and Parisian Inc. the Southeast department-store chain

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Eventually Mr. Simpson and Mr. Herscu had a falling out over the direction of the company and Mr. Simpson said he resigned in 1988

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Since then Hooker Corp. has sold its interest in the Parisian chain back to Parisian 's management and is currently attempting to sell the B. Altman & Co. chain

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In addition Robert Sakowitz chief executive of the Sakowitz chain is seeking funds to buy out the Hooker interest in his company

( S ( PP ( IN In ) ( NP ( NN addition ) ) ) ( NP-SBJ ( NP ( NNP Robert ) ( NNP Sakowitz ) ) ( NP ( NP ( JJ chief ) ( NN executive ) ) ( PP ( IN of ) ( NP ( DT the ) ( NNP Sakowitz ) ( NN chain ) ) ) ) ) ( VP ( VBZ is ) ( VP ( VBG seeking ) ( NP ( NP ( NNS funds ) ) ( SBAR ( S ( VP ( TO to ) ( VP ( VB buy ) ( PRT ( RP out ) ) ( NP ( NP ( DT the ) ( NNP Hooker ) ( NN interest ) ) ( PP-LOC ( IN in ) ( NP ( PRP$ his ) ( NN company ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )


The Merksamer chain is currently being offered for sale by First Boston Corp

( S ( NP-SBJ-1 ( DT The ) ( NNP Merksamer ) ( NN chain ) ) ( VP ( VBZ is ) ( ADVP-TMP ( RB currently ) ) ( VP ( VBG being ) ( VP ( VBN offered ) ( PP-CLR ( IN for ) ( NP ( NN sale ) ) ) ( PP ( IN by ) ( NP-LGS ( NNP First ) ( NNP Boston ) ( NNP Corp ) ) ) ) ) ) )


Reached in Honolulu Mr. Shidler said that he believes the various Hooker malls can become profitable with new management

( S ( S-ADV ( VP ( VBN Reached ) ( PP-LOC ( IN in ) ( NP ( NNP Honolulu ) ) ) ) ) ( NP-SBJ-2 ( NNP Mr. ) ( NNP Shidler ) ) ( VP ( VBD said ) ( SBAR ( IN that ) ( S ( NP-SBJ ( PRP he ) ) ( VP ( VBZ believes ) ( SBAR ( S ( NP-SBJ ( DT the ) ( JJ various ) ( NNP Hooker ) ( NNS malls ) ) ( VP ( MD can ) ( VP ( VB become ) ( ADJP-PRD ( JJ profitable ) ) ( PP ( IN with ) ( NP ( JJ new ) ( NN management ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )