Autos
Costa Mesa-based Karma Automotive LLC set the price for its Revero sports car at $130,000 but declined to peg a date when the car would be delivered to the 80 buyers who’ve placed initial orders. “We’ve got an owner that’s got patient capital,” said Jim Taylor, Karma’s chief revenue officer. “The first thing he told us is ‘just get it right.’” Taylor’s remarks came at an unveiling event for the 2017 Revero last week in Huntington Beach. Cars will be made at Karma’s 556,000-square-foot facility in Moreno Valley. Karma has more than 700 employees and anticipates that number to swell to about 1,000 as part of a pending move to its new headquarters in Irvine (see related OC Insider item, page 3).
Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Jon Slangerup will resign Oct. 28 after leading the nation’s second largest port for about two years. A news release said he will be chairman and chief executive at an unnamed aviation technology firm. Slangerup is on the board of aviation maintenance software maker Mxi Technologies Ltd. in Ottawa.
Healthcare
Irvine-based AcuFocus Inc. received $66 million in a funding round led by KKR & Co. LLP in New York. AcuFocus makes a corneal inlay to improve near vision and an intraocular lens designed to help people with cataracts. Prior AcuFocus investors have included medical device makers Bausch & Lomb and Medtronic, as well as Versant Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park that maintains an office in Newport Beach under managing partner Bill Link, who is also chairman of the board at AcuFocus.
Rox Medical in San Clemente got $40 million in Series E financing led by Novartis Venture Fund and Apple Tree Partners, with participation by Versant Ventures and Domain Associates. Rox develops therapies for hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Blockade Medical in Irvine has been sold to Balt International in Paris on undisclosed terms. Blockade is developing a device to treat cerebral aneurysms.
Law
Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker LLP announced today that William Meehan has been elected to managing partner of the law firm. Meehan succeeds Layne Melzer, who was recently appointed an Orange County Superior Court judge by Governor Jerry Brown.
Marketing
XIO Group in London completed its $1.1 billion sale of J.D. Power and Associates, a Costa Mesa-based unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. J.D. Power, which moved its headquarters from Westlake Village to Costa Mesa in November.
Media
Freedom Communications, the former owner of the Orange County Register, has agreed to allow a committee representing its unsecured creditors to investigate possible legal claims against company insiders, according to court documents filed Wednesday in the Santa Ana division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Real Estate
Santa Ana-based First American Financial Corp. has agreed to acquire RedVision Systems Inc., a Parsippany, N.J.-based company that provides a variety of title insurance-related data, technology and managed services, on undisclosed terms.
Brandon Birtcher is no longer chief executive of Irvine-based Goodman Birtcher, according to the industrial developer’s Australia-based parent company. Goodman Group, one of the world’s largest industrial developers, said that its North American subsidiary would now be headed up by Anthony Rozic, who has been with the parent company for 12 years.
Members of the California Coastal Commission voted to deny a controversial proposal to develop the Banning Ranch area of Newport Beach, one of the largest open private parcels of land on the Southern California shoreline.Developers can launch a legal challenge to the decision or submit a revised proposal in six months.
Retail
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware confirmed Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.’s restructuring plan Tuesday, a move that enabled the retail chain to emerge from bankruptcy under ownership of lender Golden Gate Capital.
Restaurants
Irvine-based BF Acquisition Holdings LLC, the parent company for Baja Fresh Mexican Grill and La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill, will be acquired for $27 million by MTY Food Group Inc. in Montreal, Canada. The headquarters for BF Acquisition Holdings will move to Scottsdale, Ariz., after the deal closes, which is expected in October.
