This week’s Business Journal list of the biggest Orange County-based public companies is missing 10 entries from a year ago.
Seven fell off the list because they were acquired by companies outside OC in some of the largest mergers and acquisitions Orange County saw in 2012.
The $2.4 billion sale of Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc. to Dell Inc. of Round Rock, Texas, was the largest sale of a local company last year. Quest, which ranked No. 16 on last year’s list, has about 600 employees here out of a companywide total of about 3,900.
Ceradyne Inc. in Costa Mesa was sold to St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M Co. in November. 3M paid $860 million for the ceramics-products manufacturer for the third-largest sale in Orange County last year. Ceradyne was No. 25 on last year’s public companies list (see related story, page 1).
Ista
Eye drug maker Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Irvine fell off the list this year following its $491.9 million sale to Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb Inc., which closed in June. Bausch has its global surgical business in Aliso Viejo, with about 160 workers.
Ista had rejected two hostile takeover bids prior to agreeing to sell to Bausch. Canadian drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International had made an initial offer of $314 million and later upped it to $360 million. Valeant had operations based in Aliso Viejo under the name until 2010, when Montreal, Canada-based Biovail Corp. bought the
company for $3.2 billion. Biovail took the Valeant name after the deal and kept the headquarters for the combined operations in Montreal.
Irvine-based nursing home operator Sun Healthcare Group Inc., No. 8 on last year’s list, was acquired by Genesis HealthCare LLC in Kennett Square, Pa., in a $320.2 million deal that closed in September.
Sun Healthcare once had about 150 employees in OC and about 250 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Anaheim-based circuit board maker DDi Corp. was bought by St. Louis-based Viasystems Group Inc. in June for $297 million. DDi was No. 41 on last year’s list.
DDi had about 1,600 employees, including 360 workers in Anaheim at the time of the sale. The combined company is expected to have about 15,650 employees and reach annual revenue of $1.3 billion.
SRS Labs Inc., an audio technology company in Santa Ana, was acquired by Calabasas-based rival DTS Inc. in a $148 million deal that closed in July.
SRS Labs, ranked No. 70 last year, served a customer base of leading computer and smartphone makers—including Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and HTC Corp.
Premier Commercial Bank of Anaheim, No. 76 on last year’s list, was sold to California United Bank in Los Angeles.
The $42.3 million deal closed in August, and Premier Commercial’s branches in Anaheim and Irvine now operate as California United.
Newmark
A non-OC company—Newmark Grubb Knight Frank—was included in last year’s list because of its tie to locally based Grubb & Ellis Co. amid acquisition talks.
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank was formed by brokerage firm BGC Partners Inc. of New York when it combined Grubb & Ellis with Newmark Knight Frank. The combined firm ranked No. 36 last year.
Two other companies—Cavico Corp., No. 59 last year, and OptimumCare Corp., No. 96—were left off the latest list based on the lack of up-to-date information or financial filings that would indicate their operating activity.
