Maui Land & Pineapple Co., the company whose majority owner is former America Online chief executive officer Steve Case, wants to more than double the number of shares it can issue.

The Kahului-based company isn't saying exactly how it would use the extra shares, only disclosing in a regulatory filing that they could be employed for general corporate purposes. That includes such uses such as issuing them in a public or private sale, using them for executive compensation or to complete an acquisition.

Under a proposal to be considered by shareholders, the number of authorized shares would rise to 23 million from 9 million currently.

"The company's board believes it is advisable and in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to amend the articles of association in order to have an additional authorized but unissued shares of common stock in an amount adequate to provide for the future needs of the company," Maui Land & Pineapple said in a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Currently about 8.2 million of Maui Land & Pineapple's 9 million authorized shares have been issued or are reserved for compensation or other purposes.

Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the increase during Maui Land & Pineapple's annual meeting on May 7.

Authorizing more shares doesn't mean the stock automatically will be available for sale in public markets.

But it creates a bigger pool from which executives can draw to raise money from a sale, increase stock option awards or use stock instead of cash in purchasing another company. Earlier this month, Maui Land & Pineapple sold $15 million of previously unissued shares to Miles Gilburne, a former AOL executive, and Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay Inc., in private transactions.

Eric Mais, a professor of Finance at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said the authorization increase gives Maui Land & Pineapple's management more flexibility with finances but doesn't signal an immediate sale of the shares.

"It could be years before those stock go out into the market," Mais said. "It may be that they have 23 million authorized, but they don't issue them for 15 or 20 years."

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.