TOP STORY
A split of Santa Ana-based First American Corp. wrapped up last week as shares of the company’s title insurance and data services units started trading as separate public companies. Shares of Santa Ana-based data services provider CoreLogic Inc. debuted with a market value of about $2 billion. The title insurance arm, technically the spinoff in the deal, assumed First American’s “FAF” ticker with a market value of about $1.5 billion.
TECHNOLOGY
The federal government dropped its bid to appeal the December dismissals of illegal stock options backdating charges against Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Samueli and Henry Nicholas. The move ends years of legal issues stemming from Broadcom’s 2007 restatement of financial results to reflect $2.2 billion in charges for misdated stock options from 1998 to 2003.
Anaheim’s RTI Electronics Inc., a maker of electronics that go into audio devices, big lighting jobs and power supply gear, was bought by Los Angeles-based Shackleton Equity Partners LLC, a private equity buyer, after its Minnesota-based parent divested the local unit. Terms were not disclosed. St. Paul, Minn.-based IntriCon Corp., a publicly traded maker of electronics for medical devices with some $55 million in yearly sales, decided to sell RTI late last year. RTI has roughly 60 Anaheim workers who do manufacturing and product design.
Newport Beach-based chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies Inc. reaffirmed its revenue outlook for the current quarter, saying it sees “consistent” trends in its business. Mindspeed, which makes networking chips, said in April it expects sales of $42.3 million to $43.9 million for the three months through June, up 5% to 9% from the March quarter. Wall Street analysts on average expect $43.1 million in sales for the current quarter. Mindspeed didn’t offer a profit outlook. In April, Mindspeed said it expected a gross profit margin of 64%, on par with the March quarter. Analysts on average are looking for a profit of $5.1 million for the three months through June.
ECONOMY
Orange County isn’t expected to start adding jobs until 2011, according to a midyear economic forecast update by Chapman University. Economists now expect a 1.2% drop in employment and nearly 18,000 jobs lost in 2010. For 2011, they forecast 1.5% job growth, or 21,000 new workers. The ailing construction sector continues to hamper job growth with more than 7,500 construction jobs projected to be lost in 2010, and 2011 not looking much better. Housing is expected to recover faster than commercial real estate, with a predicted 17.5% increase in housing permits in 2011.
HEALTHCARE
Covidien Ltd. is buying Ev3 Inc., a medical device maker with some 350 workers and roots in Irvine, for $2.6 billion (see story, page 1). Covidien, a diversified medical device maker that operates out of Massachusetts, said it is buying Ev3 to build up its business of devices that treat blood vessel diseases. Covidien’s offer is 19% more than what Ev3’s shares were worth before the offer. The deal is expected to close in July.
Altura Medical Inc., a San Clemente-based medical device maker, raised $20 million in a first round of venture capital funding. Altura plans to use the money to develop devices to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms, or a ballooning blood vessel near the heart, and to conduct early clinical trials. New Leaf Venture Partners of Menlo Park and New York led the investment in Altura. Advanced Technology Ventures, which has offices in Palo Alto and Waltham, Mass., and SV Life Sciences, which has offices in San Francisco, Boston and London, also invested.
APPAREL
Clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. easily beat Wall Street expectations with results for its recently ended quarter but offered a guarded outlook for the current one. The maker of clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding reported an adjusted profit of $15.7 million for the three months through April, more than double its profit from a year earlier and surpassing the $4.2 million in profit analysts had expected on average. Revenue came in at $468.3 million, down 5% from a year earlier but easily topping the $455 million expected by Wall Street. The company offered general sales and profit guidance for the three months through July that was short of what analysts had been expecting.
Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. saw a second straight month of lower sales in May, but the drop last month was lower than analysts had expected. Same-store sales, which measure sales growth at stores open at least a year, fell 5.3% last month from a year earlier. Wall Street analysts were expecting a 6% drop in same-store sales. Total sales for the month fell 4% to $40.2 million.
OTHER NEWS
Irvine-based hybrid automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. closed a $189 million funding round with a $35 million investment, marking a major step toward meeting requirements for government-backed loans. The latest financing—led by undisclosed investors—brings the automaker’s total private investment to more than $300 million.
