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Unisplendour WD Deal Sets OC-China Benchmark

Unisplendour Corp. Ltd.’s $3.8 billion minority stake in Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. is believed to be the largest single investment a China-based company has made in a local company but still trails some other blockbuster deals initiated by foreign investors.

Here’s a look at some of the largest in OC history:

2015 — Singapore-based Avago Technologies in May announces $37 billion deal to acquire Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. in the priciest deal in tech history. It’s expected to close early next year.

2014 — Actavis PLC acquires Irvine drugmaker Allergan Inc. for $71 billion; Mallinckrodt PLC acquires Anaheim-based Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $5.1 billion. Both acquirers are based in the tax-friendly haven of Ireland.

2010 — Aliso Viejo-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International acquired for $3.8 billion by BioVail Corp., Canada’s largest publicly owned pharmaceutical company at the time.

2007 — Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. acquired for $2.3 billion by Luxottica Group SPA in Milan, Italy.

2006 — Newport Beach luxury home builder John Laing Homes acquired for $1 billion by Emmar Properties, Dubai’s largest real estate developer at the time.

2005 — Irvine-based transportation logistics provider BAX Global acquired for $1.1 billion by German railroad Deutsche Bahn AG.

1996 — Fountain Valley consumer memory products maker Kingston Technology Inc. sells 80% of company to Japan-based Softbank Corp. for $1.5 billion and buys it back three years later at steep discount.

Ex-CIA Head Talks Crime in OC

Former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden on a recent stop in OC delivered a grim message to U.S. businesses trying to combat cybersecurity in the digital age.

“We have adjusted less to the cyber threat than we have the terrorist threat,” Hayden told a packed ballroom of security experts and executives Sept. 30 at the Anaheim Convention Center during a morning keynote at the (ISC)² Security Congress and ASIS International conference.

The four-star general, who led the CIA from 2006 to 2008 and the NSA from 1999 to 2005, called the Internet the largest ungoverned space in history.

“There is no rule of law, there is no borders,” he said, citing several big-data breaches, including at the Las Vegas Sands Casino last year and the worm that crippled about 1,000 centrifuges in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program in 2010, an attack that’s believed to have been carried out by the U.S. and Israel.

The Business Journal in March reported that hard drives made by Western Digital and Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc., both based in Irvine, were targeted and infected with a lethal family of viruses meant to obtain sensitive data from foreign military, Islamic activists, energy companies, telecoms, media outlets and government officials, among others around the world.

Hayden, who oversaw the controversial warrantless wiretapping program under President George W. Bush, said the U.S. is “really, really good at stealing other people’s stuff.”

“We are No. 1,” he said. “But we self-limit. We only steal stuff to keep you free and keep you safe.”

Props Go to UCI Researchers

UCI engineering professors Satya Atluri and Syed Ali Jafar are among the top 1% of scientific researchers in the world, according to the 2015 Highly Cited Researchers list by Thomson Reuters.

The list of 3,000 scholars in 21 fields of science and social sciences is based on papers published from 2003 to 2013.

Atluri, a Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the Center for Aerospace Research and Education, conducts groundbreaking mathematical work that’s aided the design of safer aircraft materials. Jafar, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, explores fundamental performance limits of wireless communication networks.

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