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ADDENDUM – October 22, 2012

The battery supplier for Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive Inc.’s luxury hybrid sedan has filed for bankruptcy reorganization and is selling its assets. Waltham, Mass.-based A123 Systems Inc. has a deal with Johnson Controls Inc. in Milwaukee to sell its automotive assets. Johnson Controls has committed $72.5 million to ensure A123 continues operations during the sale process, and Fisker has said it has a sufficient inventory of batteries through the first quarter of next year (see related story, page 4).

Venture capital firm Versant Ventures Inc., which operates out of Newport Beach and Menlo Park, has teamed up with Swiss biotech company Roche Holding AG to back the latest effort by Inception Sciences Inc., a pharmaceutical incubator in San Diego. The partnership has created Inception 3 to develop drugs to treat hearing impairment. Versant specializes in investments in pharmaceutical and medical-device companies. It counts investments in Inception 1 and Inception 2, both part of the San Diego incubator, in its portfolio of biotechnology companies.

Standard & Poor’s lowered the rating on Fullerton’s municipal debt to AA- from AA. The downgrade, which traces in part to city budget problems, could increase Fullerton’s borrowing costs.

Critical care and hospitalist provider Apollo Medical Holdings Inc. will expand services to OC and named Daniel Hilto regional hospitalist medical director. Hilton was chief of medicine at Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center.

Riverside-based KPC Global, whose founder is majority owner of Santa Ana-based Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc., acquired Victor Valley Community Hospital as part of the facility’s bankruptcy reorganization. KPC agreed to invest $25 million in the hospital, which it will operate on a for-profit basis.

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. secured $14.3 million in financing from New York-based investment bank McNicoll, Lewis & Vlak LLC. The round replaced funding the Tustin-based company had to repay after disclosing data “discrepancies” in tests of its bavituximab lung cancer candidate.

Costa Mesa-based industrial lubricant company ProOne Inc. will move a portion of its operations to Houston. It first will open a sales office there early next year and eventually is expected to relocate the headquarters of its drilling division as well.

Irvine-based online media company Local Corp. announced the sale its Rovion subsidiary to McLean, Va.-based media company Gannett Co. for an undisclosed amount. Gannett will acquire Rovion, which is based in Boston, and all related assets under terms of the agreement. Rovion’s primary product is called Ad Composer, which includes a self-service technology platform that creates mobile HTML 5 ads without the use of coding. Gannett said the acquisition will enable it to expand its mobile and self-service digital platforms.

James Lyons, a former executive with Lake Forest-based Mexican fast food chain Del Taco LLC, joined Denver-based quick-serve sandwich restaurant Quiznos as chief operating officer. Lyons was chief operating officer of franchise and chief development officer at Del Taco from 2008 to January.

Ingram Micro Inc. finalized its $840 million buy of BrightPoint Inc. The Santa Ana-based tech distributor said the acquisition offers inroads to high-growth, high-margin business lines in the mobility segment.

Two Newport Beach-based developers are among eight companies expressing interest in redeveloping the Ports O’Call Village, a restaurant and retail development owned by the Port of Los Angeles. Battaglia Inc. and Strata Properties were among those filing by an Oct. 5 deadline.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

UP: Employment in OC in September, when employers added 9,500 non-farm jobs and the labor force grew to 1,390,900 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 7.1% from 7.7% in August and 8.7% in September 2011. California had a jobless rate of 9.7% in September.

UP: The outlook on sales of existing homes in OC, where inventory has been shrinking dramatically, according to ReportsOnHousing. The data service firm’s data through mid-October show 4,199 homes listed for sale, a record low and 58% fewer listings than a year earlier. Homes priced below $1 million had an average time on market of just less than a month. Homes priced above $1 million took about five months to sell, on average, according to the data service’s website.

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