TECHNOLOGY
Costa Mesa’s Emulex Corp., a maker of electronics for data storage networks, is set to buy Sunnyvale-based ServerEngines Corp. for about $159 million in cash and stock. ServerEngines, started by onetime Broadcom Corp. engineers, supplies chips for a key Emulex product. Under the terms of the deal, expected to close next month, Emulex is set to pay $78 million in cash and roughly $81 million in stock. It could tack on another 4 million shares, or about $40 million, if ServerEngines meets business goals (see story, page 3).
A report confirmed Western Digital Corp. as the biggest maker of disk drives for computers and consumer electronics, ending the long reign of Scotts Valley-based Seagate Technology LLC. During the first quarter, Lake Forest-based Western Digital shipped a record 51.1 million disk drives, up 3% from the fourth quarter, according to a report from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp. Seagate shipped 50.3 million drives during the same period, up less than 1% from the fourth quarter. Seagate, which had a recent market value of $7 billion, still beat Western Digital on revenue in the quarter.
HEALTHCARE
A U.S. District Court judge has allowed a lawsuit against Irvine-based device maker Endologix Inc. to go forward. Blooming-ton, Ind.-based Cook Inc. sued Endologix in October for allegedly infringing on its patents. The complaint names two patents covering endovascular stent grafts, which are used to repair arterial aneurysms. In other Endologix news, the Food and Drug Administration approved 31 new sizes of stent grafts. Endologix said it will move ahead with a limited release this month and a full release in the fourth quarter.
Lake Forest’s I-Flow Corp. settled a patent infringement and trade secret lawsuit against Apex Medical Technologies Inc. and Zone Medical LLC. I-Flow, acquired by Kimberly-Clark Corp. last year, said Apex and Zone will stop making and selling the Solace drug delivery pump and turn over pump-related tools to I-Flow. The companies also will pay undisclosed compensation to I-Flow. Under terms of the deal, Apex and Zone Medical will get to sell up to 3,000 remaining pumps. I-Flow said patent litigation against the two companies will be dropped.
3M Corp. plans to close an Oklahoma plant by the end of the year and move some of its operations to Irvine. The plant makes dental implant products and has 125 workers. The plant’s operations will be moved to St., Paul, Minn., and Irvine, during the next several months. The number of jobs coming to Irvine wasn’t disclosed.
AqueSys Inc., an Irvine medical device company, raised $7.5 million as part of a $35 million funding round. AqueSys is working on a surgical device to treat glaucoma, an eye disease that damages the optic nerve and is a major cause of blindness.
REAL ESTATE
Los Angeles-based real estate investor Kilroy Realty Corp. is under contract to buy 2211 Michelson, the Irvine office tower recently put up for sale by Houston’s Hines Interests LP and partner Crescent Real Estate Equities LP of Fort Worth, Texas. The purchase price for the 12-story building is $103 million, or about $380 per square foot (see story, page 1).
Santa Ana’s CoreLogic Inc., which last week emerged as a public company as part of a spinoff at First American Corp., filed plans to sell up to $400 million in stock by the company and shareholders. CoreLogic, which provides real estate and other business data, said it would use any proceeds from share sales by the company for general purposes, including possible repayment of debt, acquisitions, share buybacks and investments in its business.
APPAREL
Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Indus-tries Inc. is up for sale, according to a report. The company, which designs clothes and other products and licenses them to other companies, has hired an investment bank to explore a sale, according to the New York Post. New York-based Guggenheim Partners LLC has been hired to shop the company, the report said. It could sell for as much as $50 million. Paul Frank is looking to sell itself to gain cash and resources for growth, one unnamed source told the Post.
FINANCE
Two credit unions initially created to serve aerospace employees are combining. NuVision Federal Credit Union in Huntington Beach plans to combine with Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach, which would give the pair assets of $4.8 billion and 40 branches throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. The resulting credit union would be named Kinecta. NuVision Chief Executive Roger Ballard would head the combined company. The deal still needs approval by regulators and members.
OTHER NEWS
Lake Forest-based construction and engineering company Primoris Services Corp. won a $107 million roadwork contract from the Texas Department of Transportation. Primoris said its James Construction Group LLC unit won the work on Interstate 35 in central Texas. The work is set to start in July and last for three years.
