Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based medical device startup Ellipse Technologies Inc. got $17.6 million in a third round of private-equity funding. Ellipse recently received approval for sales in Europe for its lead product, Magec, a device used to treat early onset scoliosis, or a spine curvature found in children. The company has begun the process of seeking approval for U.S. sales. New investors in the latest round include Switzerland-based HBM BioVentures Ltd. and Petoskey, Mich.-based BioStar Ventures. Current investors, Irvine-based MedFocus Management Co. LLC’s MedFocus Fund Family and Greenwich, Conn.-based Wexford Capital LP, also were part of the latest round.
Orange-based St. Joseph Health System said it plans to cut 144 jobs across two of its hospitals here through a combination of attrition and layoffs. The cuts are slated for St. Joseph Hospital-Orange and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. St. Joseph owns 14 hospitals in California, Nevada and Texas. It recently restructured its executive ranks along regional lines (see related story, page 1).
Santa Ana-based Community Dental Services Inc.’s dental managed-care company SmileCare has been sold to Coast Dental Services Inc. in Florida. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MEDIA
The Los Angeles Times Media Group said the Coastline Pilot in Laguna Beach will expand coverage to neighboring Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo. The Times is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co. and operates the Coastline Pilot as part of its Times Community News Group.
REAL ESTATE
Shares of Santa Ana-based CoreLogic Inc. fell more than 30% to a market value of about $1.1 billion last week on a lowered outlook for earnings through the end of the year for the company, which provides data to real estate and mortgage companies. CoreLogic reported $31.5 million in second-quarter earnings, slightly higher than what analysts had been expecting and up from $24.4 million a year ago. Second-quarter revenue of $396 million also topped analysts’ expectations of about $399 million. Investors were spooked by the company’s disclosure that it expects its year-end earnings to fall well below prior expectations. The company’s prior guidance was for 2011 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be about $350 million. The company now expects EBITDA to come in between $260 million and $280 million for the full year. CoreLogic officials cited a lack of seasonal lift in its business due to the slow housing and mortgage market, as well as weakness in the company’s appraisal and default lines, as the largest culprits for the revised outlook.
The number of potential buyers for the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral Ministries’ 35-acre campus in Garden Grove grew in advance of an upcoming submission of a reorganization plan by a creditors committee. Bidders so far include Chapman University in Orange, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, Newport Beach-based developer Greenlaw Partners and Our Father’s House Church in Norco. Chapman recently increased its bid to $50 million to match an all-cash offer from the Diocese. Greenlaw, the first to make an offer, remains at $46 million. Few details were available on the bid by Our Father’s House Church or interest expressed by self-proclaimed pastor and billionaire Robert Lee Tran Truong, who publicly offered $99 million. David Green and his Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Hobby Lobby Stores chain more recently offered $47.5 million cash, although no formal bid had been submitted as of presstime (see related item, below).
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest has been given ownership of a 170-acre ranch it had been leasing in San Juan Capistrano. The Rancho Capistrano property was donated to Saddleback Church by Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., the arts and crafts retailer said. Hobby Lobby bought the land last year from the now-bankrupt Crystal Cathedral Ministries in Garden Grove. Saddleback Church had been leasing the land from Hobby Lobby. The growing megachurch, led by senior pastor Rick Warren, uses the property as an overnight retreat center, among other uses. The Rancho Capistrano property had been owned by Crystal Cathedral since 1981 but was sold last year to raise cash for the financially troubled church (see related item, above).
RETAIL
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. donated $100,000 to the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, a nonprofit group that said it will use the money to restore native plants in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach. Wal-Mart is planning a new store in Huntington Beach. The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve covers 1,700 acres off Pacfic Coast Highway.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Homebuilding in Orange County, where permits for 3,434 housing units were issued through June, nearly tripling the pace for the same period a year ago, according to the Construction Industry Research Board. Single-family houses accounted for 1,260 permits, and 2,174 were for apartments or condominiums. It’s the highest number for the first half of a year since 2007.
