Hawaiian Bank Chairman Walter A. Dods Jr. and some other investors are buying Mid Pac Petroleum from its Singapore owners for $44 million according to the Pacific Business News.

The sale of the petroleum marketing company and Union 76 licensee by K1 Ventures Ltd. to Kokooha Investments is planned to close on Aug. 31. Mid Pac owns 36 Union 76 gas stations in Hawaii.

Kokooha Investments was formed by Dods, contractor David C. Hulihee, developer Bill D. Mills and Jim R. Yates, former head of The Gas Co. Yates, who resigned from The Gas Co. last week, will become president of Mid Pac, replacing Richard Parry, who left the company last month. K1 Ventures also owned The Gas Co. until June 2006, when it sold it to New York-based Macquarie Infrastructure Co. Until that point, Mid Pac answered to Yates, who was head of the Gas Co according to the newspaper.

“We would not do the transaction were it not for Yates,” Dods told the Business Journal, adding that it’s essential to the deal was to have an industry executive who already knows the company.

Dods revealed that business will continue as usual for employees and customers.