TOP STORIES
Switzerland’s Alcon Inc., an eye care products company with more than 770 workers in Irvine, is buying Aliso Viejo startup LenSx Lasers Inc. for $362 million. LenSx, a venture capital-backed company, makes lasers used to remove cataracts. Buying LenSx is designed to help Alcon’s eye surgery customers improve cataract removal procedures. Alcon may pay up to $382.5 million, depending on whether LenSx hits business goals.
Irvine clothing maker and retailer Billabong USA could have a bidding war on its hands as it seeks to buy Canada’s West 49. Zumiez Inc., which is based near Seattle and operates a chain of clothing stores, said it is prepared to top Billabong’s $78 million late June offer for retailer West 49. The company didn’t say what it might pay for West 49. Zumiez’s offer wouldn’t require financing and could be more appealing to shareholders of West 49. Billabong’s offer is 136% more than what West 49 was valued at before the deal was announced.
TECHNOLOGY
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the top distributor of technology products, bought Hong Kong software distributor Asiasoft Hong Kong Ltd. Terms of the deal, presumably small, weren’t announced. Asiasoft distributes software licenses of business applications that do virtualization, security, system and desktop management, networking and business planning. Ingram Micro is set to integrate Asiasoft’s systems some 33 workers into its Hong Kong business operations.
Costa Mesa-based BandCon, which helps companies manage traffic flow on their websites, was acquired by Florida’s Highwinds Network Group Inc. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. BandCon offers what’s called content delivery products—services and software that help companies run their websites by making sure viewers can access music, photo and video files. Privately held BandCon has roughly 50 workers here. Highwinds is set to keep BandCon’s local office and its network operations center.
HEALTHCARE
Foothill Ranch-based nursing home operator Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. had a rocky week after a Northern California jury decided the company should pay $671 million in damages for providing inadequate staffing at California facilities. Skilled’s shares took a beating, losing 75% of their value, and then made a moderate rebound. The company, which operates 100 nursing homes in California and other states, said it intends to “vigorously pursue various post-trial motions, as well as an appeal, if necessary.”
REAL ESTATE
San Francisco hedge fund Farallon Capital Management LLC has taken over as principal owner of the long-stalled Pacific City development project in Huntington Beach. Newport Beach’s Makar Properties LLC, the initial developer of the 30-acre housing, hotel and retail development along Pacific Coast Highway, has transferred a $129 million loan tied to the project, along with ownership of the property, to Farallon Capital, one of Makar’s main financiers, according to the Surf City Voice. Makar’s role in the project going forward, if any, is unclear.
Huntington Beach approved a 22-home Ridge development in the Bolsa Chica Mesa. The development includes single-family homes ranging in size from 2,700 square feet to 4,200 square feet. Ed Mountford, senior vice president of developer Hearthside Homes, part of Irvine-based California Coastal Communities Inc., said the project will include green building features such as rooftop solar panels and drought-tolerant landscaping. The project needs final approvals before construction.
APPAREL
Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. said last week that June sales fell more than expected and forecast that profits for the three months through April could come in at the low end of expectations. Wet Seal, which runs more than 500 clothing stores for teen girls and young women, said June sales at stores open at least a year fell 3.6%. Analysts were expecting a same-store sales drop of 1.8%. Total sales for the month fell nearly 3% from a year earlier to $50.3 million.
OTHER NEWS
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which runs natural gas fueling stations for fleets of taxis, buses and other vehicles, is paying $125 million in cash and stock for a Canadian supplier of equipment to its stations. Clean Energy is buying British Columbia’s IMW Industries Ltd., which provides compressors and other equipment to many of the company’s 200 stations.
Australia’s Boral Ltd. has acquired all of an Irvine maker of concrete roof tiles. Boral, which makes construction materials, bought 50% of Irvine’s MonierLifetile LLC for a reported $75 million. The company already had owned half of MonierLifetile. It bought the remaining 50% from Germany’s Monier Group GMBH.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Down: Sales of small and midsize OC businesses, which dropped to 85 last month from 94 deals a year earlier, according to BizBen.com.
