ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Homeownership, as the number of foreclosures dropped in the third quarter from a year earlier in 80% of Orange County’s ZIP codes, according to MDA DataQuick.
Mixed: Small business sales, as 97 small and midsize businesses changed hands in the county last month, little different from the figure of 99 closed escrows in October, and 98 completed deals in November of last year, according to figures released by BizBen.com.
TOP STORIES
Irvine-based communications chipmaker Broadcom Corp. is acquiring Sunnyvale’s Dune Networks Inc., a maker of chips for data storage networks, for $178 million. The cash deal is expected to close during the first quarter (see story, page 3).
Aliso Viejo’s Networks in Motion Inc., a software startup, is being acquired by Annapolis, Md.-based TeleCommunication Systems Inc. for $170 million in cash, stock and debt. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year (see story, page 3).
Buena Park-based ServiceCraft Logistics, a trucking and warehousing company that’s one of the largest users of industrial space in the county, has been acquired by Lakeland, Fla.-based logistics company Saddle Creek Corp. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The company has two warehouses with nearly 830,000 square feet of space in Buena Park. It has others in Ontario, Chino Hills, Northern California and Texas. ServiceCraft employs about 250 people. Most are expected to join Saddle Creek, according to a report in trade publication Logistics Management (see story page 58).
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine’s Sage Software Inc., a unit of Britain’s Sage Group PLC that makes software, saw a drop in sales for the 12 months through September. The company saw North American sales of $889 million, down 10% from a year earlier. Sage didn’t report profits for its North America business unit. The company said it took some $16 million in charges related to a big restructuring program that primarily focused on the Irvine office.
Broadcom cofounder Henry Samueli is set to testify in the trial of the Irvine chipmaker’s former chief financial officer William Ruehle on charges related to backdated stock options. U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney granted immunity to Samueli, who had planned to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against incriminating himself. Samueli has pleaded guilty to one count of lying to investigators about stock options at Broadcom. He’s awaiting sentencing in the plea deal.
HEALTHCARE
Aliso Viejo-based Clarient Inc., a provider of cancer testing services, signed an exclusive license for a new test from Waltham, Mass.-based Minerva Biotechnologies Corp. to identify the MUC1 protein, which can be used to detect cancers. The company said it could take about a year of further development to better evaluate the test’s potential.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. could return to profitability next year thanks to improving profit margins in most of its key markets, according to James Wilson from San Francisco-based JMP Securities. Wilson said in a note to investors that he expects Standard Pacific to earn about $5 million next year. Most Wall Street analysts predict the builder will post a small loss in 2009.
APPAREL
Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. saw sales drop less than expected in November and offered some encouragement for December. The company, which runs clothing stores for teen girls and young women, said sales at stores open at least a year fell 5% in November from a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a 6.6% drop.
FINANCE
Wells Fargo & Co. plans to close 25 of Wachovia branches in Orange County and combine operations with nearby offices. The company said it does not plan to cut jobs. Wells Fargo acquired struggling Wachovia Corp. a year
ago.
OTHER NEWS
Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. led a rise in automotive sales for some of the county’s automakers last month. Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., saw a 46% gain to 28,045 vehicle sales in November from a year earlier. Kia Motors America Inc. of Irvine, sister company to Hyundai, also saw sales up in November. The automaker, also part of Seoul-based Hyundai, was up 18% from a year earlier with 17,955 vehicles sold last month. Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations saw November sales rise 9.6% to 14,255 vehicles sold.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was down 24.4% with 2,925 vehicles sold last month. The automaker’s overall sales year-to-date have tumbled by nearly half with 49,706 vehicles sold compared to 90,591 vehicles the same month a year earlier.
Irvine-based employment screening company HireRight Inc. acquired North Carolina-based drug testing company National Diagnostics Inc. HireRight, part of Virgina-based Altegrity Inc., acquired the drug testing company to further increase its employment screening services. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.
A federal judge gave the unsecured creditors of Freedom Communications Inc. permission to look for a buyer for the Irvine-based company, which is undergoing bankruptcy reorganization. The creditors are looking to recover up to $53 million they say they are owed. Freedom, parent of The Orange County Register, is pursuing a plan that only would pay $24 million.
