Fountain Valley-based Centennial Bank is expected to be acquired by Western Alliance Bancorp in Phoenix in a multi-step deal with a minimum value of $57.5 million. Western Alliance subsidiary Western Alliance Bank intends to make the acquisition from Glen Allen, Virginia-based LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., which is in bankruptcy. LandAmerica Financial Group counts Orange County Bancorp, holding company for Centennial Bank, as a subsidiary. The price could top $70 million on terms that include the possible “distribution of specified loans” to LandAmerica Financial, and the assumption of up to $1 million of Centennial Bank’s expenses on the transaction, according to a recent regulatory filing by the buyer. Centennial Bank had $546.1 million in assets at the end of 2012, when it posted $6.2 million in earnings, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Irvine-based Aviir Inc. raised $10 million in a second round of financing led by current investor Merck Global Health Innovation Fund in Whitehouse Station, N.J. The privately held company, which has a portfolio of cardiac risk assessment lab tests in the works, said it hit revenue milestones ahead of schedule to trigger the latest round of funding.
Irvine-based healthcare software maker Kareo Inc. ranked No. 58 on Forbes magazine’s recent list of “America’s 100 most promising companies.” Kareo provides cloud-based medical billing and practice management software for small medical practices, with about 130 of its 160 workers in Orange County. The list ranks what Forbes describes as privately held, high-growth companies based on an assessment of sales and hiring growth, margins, market size and partnerships, among other factors. Kareo was No. 22 on the Business Journal’s most recent list of fastest-growing private companies based here, with a reported $13.6 million in revenue over the two-year period through June 2012, a 318% rise. Kareo recently raised $20.5 million in funding and is planning to move to a new corporate office at Park Place in Irvine to accommodate growth.
Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. plans to put a Cool Ranch-flavored version of its Doritos Locos Tacos on its menu starting March 7. The taco, with a Cool Ranch Doritos-flavored shell, follows the launch of the original-flavored Doritos Locos Tacos about a year ago. The original Doritos Locos Tacos helped reverse a 2011 same-store sales slump for Taco Bell. The chain sold about 300 million of them on the way to an 8% increase in same-store sales for 2012. The chain launched the original version with a promotion that gave one free to customers for an entire day. The company said the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco will get with the “largest marketing campaign in history” for a new product. Details on the campaign are expected in the next few weeks. The Cool Ranch taco will start at $1.39. about the same as the original.
Irvine-based cybersecurity provider Cylance Inc. received $15 million in funding from Menlo Park-based Khosla Ventures and Fairhaven Capital Partners in Cambridge, Mass. The startup said it plans to use the money to market its various products and services.
Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. last week reported record fourth-quarter revenue along with profits that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted $11.38 billion in revenue, up 14% from a year earlier. Analysts on average had forecast sales of $10.84 billion. Net income topped $101.4 million, down 3.4% but better than Wall Street estimates of $87 million. Ingram Micro is the biggest distributor of computers, software and other technology products in the world, and the largest company in Orange County in terms of sales, with $37.8 billion in revenue for all of last year, when it notched $306 million in profits. Its strong fourth quarter was buoyed by last year’s acquisition of BrightPoint Inc., which contributed about $1 billion to sales.
A bankruptcy filing by Aliso Viejo-based private lender Point Center Financial Inc. prompted the delay of a trial on fraud charges that had been scheduled to start last week. Investors in the hard-money lender have charged misuse of funds by its owners Dan and Diane Harkey, along with chief executive officer M. Gwen Melanson. Diane Harkey is a member of the California State Assembly who has filed papers to run for the State Board of Equalization and the State Senate next year, according to report. An attorney for the company said the bankruptcy filing is in response to an unrelated lawsuit filed against it in San Diego County.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Home sales in Orange County in January, when 2,431 deals closed, an increase of 29.9% from a year earlier and the highest mark for the month in seven years, according to La Jolla-based market tracker DataQuick Information Systems. The median price reached $460,000 for the month, up 17.3%, to a five-year high.
