Other news items of interest from the Orange County Business Journal
Anaheim-based luxury-hybrid manufacturer Fisker Automotive Inc. halted production of its only model, the $100,000 Karma, because the automaker has run low on batteries. The automaker said it will wait for a resolution of bankruptcy proceedings involving its battery supplier, A123 Systems, expected this month. Fisker also appointed Joel Ewanick, a former marketing executive at General Motors Co. and Hyundai Motors America Inc., as interim chief commercial officer. Ewanick will oversee global marketing, sales and customer service as the automaker searches for a permanent replacement for retired Richard Beattie.
Newport Beach-based private-equity firm ClearLight Partners LLC raised $300 million for its third fund. ClearLight Partners III LLC is backed by ClearLight’s sole investor, Secom Co. Ltd., a security services provider in Tokyo.
Four employees of a former outpatient surgery center in Buena Park were convicted in Orange County Superior Court in a $154 million on charges of tax evasion. Their case was tied to allegations Unity Outpatient Surgery Center billed insurers for payments for unnecessary surgeries.
Irvine-based CardiAQ Valve Technologies Inc. received $37.3 million in second-round funding from an investment group led by OrbiMed Advisors LLC in New York.
Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. sold the Colorado Springs Gazette to Clarity Media Group owned by Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz. Terms were undisclosed for the Gazette, which has a daily circulation of about 65,000. Freedom now has five daily newspapers, including its flagship Orange County Register, where new owner Trust 2100 is adding staff as part of a plan to revamp the Register (see related OC Insider item, page 3).
The Laguna Niguel Planning Commission approved plans for Irvine-based Flintridge Partners LLC to develop Crestavilla, a 224-unit retirement and assisted-living community near Crown Valley Parkway and Niguel Road. Shepherd of the Hills Church, which will continue to use a portion of the site for its ministry, is a 20% partner in the project.
A Wells Fargo economic forecast projects 6% higher holiday shopping in Orange County this season. That compares to a projected hike of less than 4% nationally.
Nike Inc. plans to roll its surfwear operations into its Costa Mesa-based Hurley International LLC. The Beaverton, Ore.-based company expects to shift all of its surfwear business to the Hurley label by year’s end.
Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. bought Promark Technology Inc., a Maryland-based distributor of data-storage and document-imaging products, on undisclosed terms. Promark is expected to have $100 million in 2012 revenue.
Passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased almost 7% in October from a year earlier to 776,658. Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways topped passenger tallies, combining for 307,004 passengers during the month.
OC employment will rise 1.8% next year, according to a Chapman University economic forecast. Job gains are expected in the services and construction, government and retail sectors. California State University, Fullerton, said its index of regional economic indicators hit the highest point since 1991 in the third quarter, amid an improving local and national economy.
Robert H. Schuller, founder of the former Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, was awarded $700,000 as part of bankruptcy proceedings involving his former ministry. The family had sought millions more, including a $5 million claim by Schuller himself. The cathedral was bought by the Catholic Diocese of Orange, which has renamed the site Christ Cathedral.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Business filings in Orange County, which rose 4% from a year earlier in October, according to the Clerk Recorder’s office. The month’s 2,869 business filings—commonly known as DBAs, with most for new ventures, and some renewals—reversed a dip in September, which saw the lowest number in three years.
UP: OC’s bankruptcy outlook. There was a 16% monthly decline in new U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings by individuals and businesses here in October. The month’s 1,246 such filings represented an almost 14% drop from a year earlier.
