AUTOMOTIVE
Hyundai Motor America Inc., the largest automaker with operations based here, reported its highest-ever monthly vehicle sales in March. Hyundai—which has temporary headquarters in Costa Mesa while a Fountain Valley office campus is being built—reported 69,728 vehicles sold last month, or 13% more than a year earlier. Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc., which shares a parent with Hyundai in South Korea-based Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, also marked a company record with 57,505 vehicles sold, a 30% increase from a year earlier. Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations sold 32,376 vehicles, up almost 5% from a year earlier, and American Suzuki Motor Corp. in Brea sold 2,631 vehicles in a 5% uptick. Sales by Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America fell 5% to 7,160 vehicles.
FINANCE
Sail Venture Partners, a unit of Irvine-based venture capital firm Sail Capital Partners, kicked off a $100 million joint fund in Ontario, Canada. The partnership with St. Louis-based Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. will target clean-technology companies.
GOVERNMENT
The San Juan Capistrano City Council approved a master plan for its historic town center. The plan covers a 150-acre section, including 31 acres in downtown and commercial areas south of Del Obispo Street.
The Anaheim City Council approved an environmental impact report as part of a move to allow Honda Center to hold 222 events per year—up from 162 currently. The efforts are intended to help lure a professional basketball team to the arena.
HEALTHCARE
A U.S. subsidiary of U.K.-based medical-device maker Smith & Nephew PLC acquired San Clemente-based LifeModeler Inc. on undisclosed terms. LifeModeler makes software that allows medical device makers and others to use computers to test product designs.
Aliso Viejo-based eye device maker WaveTec Vision Systems Inc. received $15.7 million in funding from unnamed investors. The company makes devices used in surgeries that replace cataracts with intraocular lenses.
MANUFACTURING
Costa Mesa-based action sports apparel maker Volcom Inc. reportedly eliminated 30 jobs. Volcom—acquired by Paris-based luxury label PPR SA last year—employed an estimated 350 locally and 650 companywide as of last year.
MEDIA
Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. hired search firm SelectResources International in Santa Monica to look for a new agency to handle its digital advertising. The digital account has been held since late 2010 by Taco Bell’s lead agency, Draftfcb, and is serviced through the agency’s Irvine office.
Freedom Communications Inc. completed the sale of its eight TV stations to Sinclair Broadcast Group of Baltimore. The Irvine-based parent of the Orange County Register and about 100 other publications used the majority of proceeds to pay off corporate debt.
Irvine-based video game developer Blizzard Entertainment Inc. included 200 local workers among a recent round of about 600 layoffs companywide. Blizzard now employs about 1,600 here.
Mission Viejo-based investor Godfather Media Inc. acquired 60% of the Orange County Flyers, a minor league baseball team in Fullerton, on undisclosed terms. The controlling stake was acquired from a group led by Las Vegas investor Alan Mintz that bought the team for $1 million in 2007. Godfather Media acquired the Yuma (Ariz.) Scorpions in January. The Flyers and Scorpions are part of the North American Baseball League, but the Flyers did not play last year.
TRANSPORTATION
A total 603,500 passengers came through John Wayne Airport in February, roughly the same monthly tally as a year earlier. JWA traffic also was even with the year-ago period in January, despite the airport’s opening of a new terminal in November. Los Angeles International Airport posted an 8% passenger uptick in February, and LAX numbers rose almost 7% during the first two months of this year.
OTHER NEWS
Charles Ahlers announced plans to retire as president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, at year’s end. Ahlers has been bureau president since 1992 and spent seven years as its convention sales manager prior to that. The bureau will conduct a search for a successor to Ahlers, who will remain an adviser on projects, including the Anaheim Convention Center’s Grand Plaza development.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Outlook on manufacturing in OC for the second quarter, according to a report from Chapman University in Orange. The school’s composite index on the sector indicates the brightest prospects since 2004, with a gain of 5.6 points to 65.9. Any reading above 50 indicates growth among local manufacturers. The index is based on surveys of local purchasing agents about hiring plans and other manufacturing trends.
