Other news items of interest from the Orange County Business Journal
Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. sold its polarized sunglasses brand REVO to Sequential Brands Group Inc. for about $20 million. Sequential said in a news release that it inked a long-term licensing deal with New York-based B. Robinson Optical Inc. to have the eyewear licensing company make and distribute REVO products. REVO will continue to be sold by eyewear retailer Sunglass Hut, Sequential said.
A 46% surge in Irvine-based Billabong USA’s parent’s stock this month prompted an inquiry letter to the company from the Australian Securities Exchange, where the company’s shares are traded. Billabong International released a statement saying it had no explanation for its recent trading activity and that it remains in compliance with ASX rules. It had a recent market value of $285.1 million. New York hedge fund Coastal Capital International Ltd. disclosed in a filing with the ASX that it acquired a 5% stake in Billabong this month. The trading activity comes as Billabong International awaits a decision from Australia’s Takeovers Panel on a financing deal it struck with a group led by Palo Alto private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners.
Commerce National Bank in Newport Beach will be renamed Argent Bank after its pending acquisition by Sterling Financial Corp. is complete in the fourth quarter. The new name is part of Spokane, Wash.-based Sterling Financial’s rebranding effort to consolidate all of its California-based businesses. Sterling Financial—which goes by Sterling Bank in Washington—operates in California as Sonoma Bank, which it acquired in 2007, and as Borrego Springs Bank, which was folded into the Sterling Financial umbrella in a deal notched late last year. Sterling Financial had about $9.94 billion in overall assets as of the end of June. Commerce National agreed to be acquired by Sterling Financial in May for about $43 million. It had about $235.6 million in assets as of the end of June.
Irvine-based food manufacturer and distributor Golden State Foods Corp. opened a new distribution facility in Whitewater, Wis. The center employs 132 workers and serves more than 380 McDonald’s restaurants in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and parts of Michigan. McDonald’s Corp. is a longtime customer of Golden State Foods, which specializes in making meat patties and liquid products, such as ketchup. Golden State Foods works with a host of other quick-service restaurants, including Chipotle, Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr. The company, which registered about $5.8 billion in revenue last year, has about 4,500 employees total, with about 50 in Orange County.
Irvine-based frozen yogurt chain Yogurtland Franchising Inc. is continuing its growth push, with franchise agreements for 20 more stores in the U.S. The stores come on the heels of 20 units opened in the last two months in California, Boston, Chicago and New York. The company now has about 100 units in its development pipeline. Yogurtland has more than 240 stores in the U.S., Australia, Guam, Mexico and Venezuela. The company saw systemwide sales last year rise 26% from a year earlier to $126 million, according to an estimate from Chicago-based industry researcher Technomic Inc.
Irvine-based drive maker Western Digital Corp. invested in a Bay Area company that specializes in hybrid storage products. The minority stake in Newark-based Tegile Systems Inc. was part of a $35 million investment led by Meritech Capital Partners in Palo Alto. Other backers included August Capital and strategic investor SanDisk Corp., a flash memory products maker in Milpitas. The value of Western Digital’s investment wasn’t disclosed.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Orange County’s housing market. It ranked No. 2 in the country in the second quarter in terms of median home list prices, housing supply and length of time homes are for sale, according to Realtor.com. The county’s listing prices increased by 29.4% from a year earlier, and its inventory shrunk the fastest of any spot in the country, a drop of 36.6%. Homes were listed a median period of 51 days, compared to 83-day national median and 43.3% lower than last year. July’s prices jumped 20% from a year earlier, said DataQuick Information systems.
