TOP STORIES
Irvine-based women’s clothier St. John Knits International Inc., the county’s biggest apparel maker by workers, sold its Irvine plant with an eye toward moving within five years. The maker of women’s suits leased back the building at Michelson Drive and Jamboree Road through 2011. The company makes clothes at the site and has some offices there. Most of St. John’s 2,280 local employees are there. The company indicated it could seek a new building in the area. Developer Hines Interests LP of Houston, along with the California Public Emloyees’ Retirement System, bought the building for an undisclosed price.
Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. is paying $245 million to buy Israel’s PowerDsine Ltd., a maker of chips to send electricity over computer networks (see story, page 6). Microsemi is paying stock and cash for PowerDsine, which has 136 workers, most of them engineers in Israel, San Jose, and Melville, N.Y. PowerDsine’s chips are designed to send power over computer networking cables, cutting the need for separate energy supplies for routers, switches and other devices. The chips are seen as a way to cut costs of installing a network.
Irvine-based computer maker Gateway Inc. plans to consider a proposal from activist shareholders pushing for an expansion of its board. If an expanded board can’t bring a turnaround of the company, Gateway should be sold, investors Firebrand Partners LLC and Harbert Management Corp. said.
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. upped its guidance for the current quarter. The data storage networking products company said it expects adjusted profits of $40 million to $43 million for the quarter, well above Wall Street’s anticipated $30 million in adjusted profits. The company said it could see sales of $154 million to $160 million, also above what analysts were expecting at $150 million.
Ceradyne Inc., which makes ceramics used in body armor, industrial products and engine parts, found discrepancies between the recorded dates and the actual grant dates of some stock options between 1997 and 2003.
Redwood City-based Migo Software Inc. agreed to acquire Irvine-based StompSoft Inc.’s line of computer utility software for about $6.4 million.
Irvine-based laser products maker Newport Corp. of Irvine said it has agreed to buy the laser products unit of privately held Sunnyvale-based Picarro Inc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close in early November.
Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. acquired Ottawa-based Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.’s packet switching business for $5 million in cash.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International of Costa Mesa said that it plans to restate financial results dating back to 1997 after it found errors in its stock options accounting.
Irvine-based BioLase Technology Inc., which makes lasers for dentistry and medicine, received a European patent for proprietary laser and pulse technology.
TriZetto Group Inc., a Newport Beach healthcare technology company, is buying New York-based Plan Data Management Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed. The buy is set to close in the current quarter.
Kelly Gibson, former chief executive of O’Neill Clothing in Irvine, resigned his post to take the top spot at Costa Mesa-based Rip Curl USA. Gibson is replacing Rip Curl’s current boss David Lawn starting on Nov. 6. Gibson is set to help Australian-based Rip Curl expand in the U.S. O’Neill named former chief operating officer, Toby Bost, as its new chief executive, replacing Gibson. He has some tough shoes to fill. Gibson had led O’Neill Clothing on a tear, helping build it into one of the larger surfwear makers with an estimated $75 million in yearly sales.
The slowing housing market stands to set the pace for Orange County’s economy next year, according to California State University, Fullerton’s 2007 economic forecast. Housing permits and related construction expenditures are expected to continue their downward slide in the next two years as overall economic growth cools.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Prices for detached Orange County homes held in September, as sales continued to slow, the California Association of Realtors said. The median price for a detached home sold here in September was $706,490, up 1.2% from August. The record median price for the county was $729,370 in April. September’s median price was down 0.3% from a year ago. In August, prices saw a 2.5% drop from a year earlier. The pace of home sales continued a decline, falling 32% from a year ago. It’s the fourth straight month of yearly sales declines of more than 30%. September’s sales of detached homes in the county were down 11.4% from August. The association excludes condominiums from its figures.
