Automotive
Min Kun Kim, who most recently served as chief executive coordinator at Kia Motors America Inc.’s headquarters in Irvine, was promoted to president and chief executive of Kia Canada Inc.
Energy
New Western Engery Corp. in Irvine purchased the Moab Oil and Gas Project of gas wells in Oklahoma on undisclosed terms.
Finance
Irvine-based Opus Bank, the largest bank based in Orange County, filed documents with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for an initial public offering. Opus, which had about $3.7 billion in assets at the end of 2013, applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol OPB. The number of shares of common stock offered and the price range hasn’t been determined, the company said. The shares will be offered by Opus Bank and certain selling stockholders.
Santa Ana-based Stearns Lending Inc. was ranked the No. 1 wholesale residential lender for 2013 by Inside Mortgage Finance Publications Inc. in Bethesda, Md. The mortgage lender, founded and headed by Chairman Glenn Stearns, had 5.2% of the wholesale lending market in 2013, according to Inside Mortgage.
The salary of Pacific Investment Management Company LLC cofounder Bill Gross came under fire when Pimco trustee William Popejoy told the Los Angeles Times that “$200 million is not appropriate.” That’s the figure Gross is said to take home annually. Popejoy has served as a Pimco trustee for 23 years.
Hospitality
The Anaheim City Council approved a 200,000-square-foot expansion of the city’s convention center. The additional space is flexible and will be added to the facility’s existing 1.6 million square feet. Construction will also include a parking structure to replace an existing 1,400-space structure. Work is expected to begin with parking lot demolition in late summer. Completion is slated for the fall of 2016.
Other
Mission Viejo was named one of the 20 least expensive cities in the Western U.S. to do business by the Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey, which researched the cost of taxes and business licenses. Other OC cities noted as low-cost places for business: Aliso Viejo, Brea, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, La Habra, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Orange, San Juan Capistrano and Tustin.
Income inequality is rising faster in Orange County than almost anywhere in the country, according to residential real estate website Trulia, which studied incomes of the past 22 years to arrive at the rates. The website determined that households in the top 10% for income in OC took in 11.7 times the income of households in the bottom 10% in 2012. That’s up from the 7.5 times as much in 1990. OC trailed only San Franciso, San Jose and Fairfield County, Conn., in income inequality growth during that period. Income inequality remained higher in Los Angeles and San Diego than OC.
Real Estate
Scott Stowell, chief executive officer and president of Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp., was named to the board of Pacific Mutual Holding Co. in Newport Beach, the ultimate parent company of Pacific Life Insurance Co. Stowell is one of 10 board members at Pacific Mutual, the largest private company based in Orange County.
Carrington Holding Co. LLC in Aliso Viejo bought Clear Financial Solutions Ltd. in Scotland, a home mortgage brokerage it plans to name Carrington Mortgage UK Ltd. The company said it also plans to expand further in Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom.
Retail
Northgate Gonzalez Markets in Anaheim and Cardenas Markets in Ontario bought Pro’s Ranch Markets, a Phoenix-based Latino supermarket chain for $55 million. Pro’s Ranch has 11 stores in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and employs 2,500. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.
Transportation
Neil Peterson, the head of Transportation Corridor Agencies, Orange County’s toll road system, has agreed to resign. The decision follows the launch of an investigation into his approval of some contracts without most board members’ knowledge, approvals made under an agency provision that allowed the practice in certain instances. Peterson who’s been in the job for less than a year, will get nearly $79,000 in pay and benefits under a settlement while he continues on paid leave until his resignation takes effect June 5.
