Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Bernard Mariette, Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.’s No. 2 and a key force behind the company’s 2005 buy of France’s Skis Rossignol SA, is leaving and could try to acquire the struggling ski brand. Chief Executive Bob McKnight is taking over the president’s title held by Mariette, who is set to serve as a consultant for a year. Mariette played a lead role in the buy of Rossignol, which moved Quik-silver beyond clothes and shoes inspired by surfing and skateboarding and into skis, snowboards and other winter sports gear. The deal has been a big drag on Quiksilver, with Wall Street pushing for a sale of the business.
TECHNOLOGY
Newport Beach-based Jazz Technologies Inc. hired UBS Securities LLC to look at “various strategic alternatives” for the maker of chips for other companies. Jazz didn’t outline at what alternatives it plans to look. Presumably, they include a possible sale of the company. Jazz also reported fourth-quarter results last week. The company said it saw a loss of $4.6 million, widened from $3 million in the third quarter. Revenue was $54.8 million for the quarter.
HEALTHCARE
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International said a late-stage trial for retigabine, a potential epilepsy treatment, showed that the drug reduced seizure frequency. The news sent Aliso Viejo-based Valeant’s stock up 15% last week with a market value of $1.2 billion. The company expects to file a new drug application for retigabine with the Food and Drug Administration and a marketing authorization application with European regulators before the end of 2008.
Santa Ana-based eye surgery device and contacts lens solution maker Advanced Medical Optics Inc. posted a fourth-quarter loss driven by charges and gave a more cautious outlook for 2008. The company also said it plans to cut about 150 jobs,4% of its total workforce,to save $10 million to $12 million a year. It plans to take $25 million to $30 million in restructuring charges related to the job cuts in 2008. Advanced Medical Optics saw a fourth-quarter net loss of $12.3 million, versus a loss of $7.6 million a year earlier. Fourth-quarter sales rose 25% to $304.6 million. The company lowered its profit range outlook for 2008 to $75 million to $87.5 million.
Nationwide Health Properties Inc., a Newport Beach owner of healthcare buildings, said it plans to sell up to 24 assisted living and dementia care facilities to Emeritus Corp. of Seattle. Emeritus, which operates the facilities, is paying $305 million for the buildings, including about $56.2 million of mortgage debt. Nationwide currently leases the facilities to Emeritus and expects the deal to close by June 30.
Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. is suing small rival CoreValve Inc. of Irvine for alleged patent infringement. Edwards, which is developing a heart valve that doesn’t require major surgery, charged in its suit that CoreValve infringed on three of its patents relating to valves that are implanted through a catheter. This is the third time within a year that Edwards has taken legal action against CoreValve over patents.
REAL ESTATE
Orange County home prices fell 8% in January from December, while home sales dropped 25% from a month earlier as most potential buyers and sellers opted to wait out the ongoing turbulence in the real estate market. The median price of an OC home was $520,000 in January, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. Median prices here are down 13% from a year ago and are off 19% from OC’s record high of $645,000 set last June. Sales in the county were off 46% from a year earlier at 1,286 homes in January.
Irvine-based developer SunCal Cos. is buying a 1,600-acre plot of land in Central Florida, its first acquisition in the eastern part of the U.S. SunCal is buying property in Osceola County’s Toho Preserve from Fort Worth, Texas-based homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. The site’s entitled for up to 3,650 homes and 450,000 square feet of shops and office space. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. D.R. Horton was said to be asking about $38 million for the land, according to the Orlando Business Journal.
OTHER NEWS
A former Boeing Co. engineer and Orange resident was arrested on suspicion of spying for the Chinese. Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 72, is accused of stealing secrets on several of the aerospace company’s programs, including the space shuttle, C-17 cargo plane and Delta IV rocket, according to the Justice Department. Chung was indicted last week and arrested at his home.
Los Angeles-based engineering and design company Aecom Technology Corp. bought Newport Beach’s Boyle Engineering Corp., a water, wastewater, transportation and drainage consulting company. Terms weren’t disclosed. Boyle employs 600 people across the country.
