Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
ENTERTAINMENT
The Orange County Fair Board approved the first phase of a plan for an $18.5 million renovation of the Pacific Ampitheatre that calls for the addition of 2,000 seats, taking its capacity to 10,500. The first phase is expected to cost $4.5 million and include the removal of an earthen mound at the back of the amphitheater, a new ticket office and other upgrades. Construction is expected to run from August 2012 to July 2013. The board voted to pay for the project out of cash reserves. It has not yet voted on the three additional phases of the project. The amphitheater is an anchor of the 150-acre fairground. It brought in about $5 million in concert revenue during this year’s summer season, according to officials.
FINANCE
Irvine-based Opus Bank’s latest expansion plans call for five new offices in California and Washington, including one in Laguna Niguel. The office in Laguna Niguel is expected to open in the first quarter at 24050 Aliso Creek Road, according to the bank. The other four new locations are expected in Danville, Long Beach, Del Mar, and Kirkland, Wash. The plans bring the number of new offices in the works for Opus to 10. The bank also is negotiating for eight more spread over Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area and the Seattle metropolitan area. The plans, all told, would give Opus 39 offices. Opus recently completed an acquisition of Everett, Wash.-based Cascade Financial Corp. and its Cascade Bank, a deal that boosted its assets to $2.2 billion. Opus expects its assets to grow to about $3 billion when a pending acquisition of Fullerton-based RMG Capital Corp. and its savings and loan subsidiary Fullerton Community Bank closes later this year. That deal is expected to bring several more offices for Opus. The bank recently completed a move of its headquarters to Irvine. It had been officially based in Redondo Beach, with executive operations here, for the past year.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based nursing home operator Sun Healthcare Group Inc. lowered its full-year financial guidance based on cuts to Medicare reimbursement that average 11.1% and took effect last week. Sun said it now expects 2011 profit to come in at $21.7 million to $24.6 million, compared with a previous range of $34.1 million to $38 million. The nursing home company said it expects full-year revenue of $1.925 billion to $1.945 billion, compared with a previous expected range of $1.95 billion to $1.995 billion. Two other locally based, publicly traded nursing home operators—Foothill Ranch-based Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. and Ensign Group Inc. in Mission Viejo—also are girding for the cuts on Medicare reimbursements.
MANUFACTURING
Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. landed a $127 million contract for ceramic armor plates for the U.S. military. The three-year contract with the federal government’s Defense Logistics Agency Group Support in Philadelphia is for armor plates for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz said the contract “lays the groundwork” for the defense portion of a previously announced five-year goal of reaching $1 billion in annual revenue. Ceradyne had about $400 million in revenue last year. The company has been pushing for revenue beyond the defense sector, with recent deals for products such as ceramic crucibles used in solar-energy panels. The recent order for the military is set for initial deliveries next year, with completion expected in March 2013.
OTHER NEWS
The Garden Grove City Council voted to pay about $2.5 million for a former car dealership on Harbor Boulevard, a move believed to be tied to efforts to establish a Vietnam War Museum. Much of the Little Saigon district—home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans in the country—is in Garden Grove. City officials said a museum is a possibility for the old car lot, but offered no specifics.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
DOWN: The financial outlook for an increased number of business and individuals in Orange County in August, when bankruptcies hit a new high for the month and the second-highest monthly level this year, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. A total of 1,670 individuals and business filed for bankruptcy in August, up 18% from the prior month and 1% from a year earlier. Bankruptcy filings fell in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. They’re typically higher in those counties than OC.
