ENERGY
Edison Mission Energy, Irvine, sold $400 million in seven-year notes at 10%, about 3.5 points more than similarly rated issues by other utilities A federal regulatory judge said El Paso Corp. subsidiaries may have shared inside information illegally as they structured a California natural gas contract Capco Energy Inc., Orange, named Tommy Berry chief executive of its Meteor Marketing Inc. subsidiary.
TECHNOLOGY
Faced with shareholder suits alleging its initial offer was too low, Plano, Texas-based Electronic Data Systems Corp. increased its offer for the 14% of Cypress-based Unigraphics Solutions Inc. it doesn’t own from $27 a share to $32.50 a share, or $172.3 million Quantum Corp., Milpitas, will acquire the San Jose-based Connex unit of Western Digital Corp., Lake Forest, for $11 million A Huntington Beach-built Delta 2 rocket launched the Genesis solar research probe into space SABTECH Industries Inc., Yorba Linda, received a $10 million contract for work on a naval combat control system Emulex Corp., Costa Mesa, cut its fiscal first-quarter sales and earnings forecast and its share price fell 9% to 23.36 on the news; meanwhile, Mark Simeon Jakob was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison for distributing a faked press release to drive down the price Emulex shares Tickets.com Inc., Costa Mesa, will keep its listing on the Nasdaq exchange after a reverse stock split and an infusion of equity financing TDK Semiconductor Corp., Tustin, filed a patent-infringement suit against Austin, Texas-based Silicon Laboratories Inc. (see related story on page 3) A shareholder of Irvine-based Intersil Corp. sued the company’s former parent Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., alleging Harris sold a block of Intersil shares in violation of an agreement to get written permission from other major shareholders before such a sale FileNET Corp., Costa Mesa, released version 5.2 of its Panagon data management software.
HEALTHCARE
Nexell Therapeutics Inc., Irvine, will sell its cell-processing business to Baxter International Inc., its largest shareholder, for $4.3 million plus royalties, and it reduced its remaining work force by 18 William Link, managing director of Versant Ventures, and his wife, Marsha, donated $1.5 million to the University of California, Irvine, to endow a biomedical engineering chair CorVel Corp., Irvine, set a 3-for-2 stock split Biolase Technology, San Clemente, said it had no news to explain a one-day, 12% drop in its share price to 5.14 in unusually heavy trading.
GOVERNMENT
An OC jury ordered Caltrans to pay $3.5 million to the family of a motorist killed in a crash at a freeway construction area in Fullerton in 1999 The county plans to spend $1 million to add antennas and to the its new emergency radio network The state Coastal Commission approved a $5.7 million project to replace the Marina Drive bridge over the San Gabriel River The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the sewage systems of 25 Southern California coastal cities to see if they comply with the Clean Water Act.
REAL ESTATE
The former owners of Garden Grove’s Arroyo Vista apartments,then Haster Gardens,which defaulted on $8.3 million in loans, were charged with fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Milestone Mortgage Corp., La Palma, was fined $88,000 and its authorization to issue FHA loans was suspended for five years for violations of federal lending guidelines.
FINANCE
Cayman Islands-based Scottish Annuity and Life Holdings Ltd. will buy a U.K. reinsurance unit of Pacific Life Insurance Co., for $78 million in stock that will give Pacific Life a 22% stake in Scottish Annuity First American Corp., Santa Ana, acquired The Associated Group, a Utah title company Newport Beach-based Miramar Venture Capital, formed by former Brobeck Phleger & Harrison managing partner Bruce Hallett and two partners, has raised $62 million for its fund Robert Ucciferri stepped down as president and chief executive of BYL Bancorp, Orange, which is being acquired by First Banks America Inc., and chief financial officer Barry Moore was named his acting replacement.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Utah gave final approval for a $330 million highway project near Salt Lake City to be built by Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Daniel and two partners HomeBase Inc., Irvine, said it will post a larger-than-anticipated net loss for the second quarter, and its share price fell 15% to 2.42 on the news Shares of Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Anaheim, fell 10% to 16.34 after Robertson Stephens said it expects the firm’s second-quarter earnings to fall at the low end of the estimate range; subsequently, Pacific Sunwear said same-store sales fell 5.3% in July and warned that its second-quarter earnings will not meet analysts’ expectations Carl Diedrich, founder of Costa Mesa-based Diedrich Coffee Inc., died at age 86 Edwards Theatre Circuit Inc., Newport Beach, signed a contract with Atlanta-based Radiant Systems Inc. to acquire new automated concession sales terminals.
