TOP STORIES
Asita Technologies Inc., Irvine, raised $24 million in a second round of venture funding led by Softbank Europe Venture and ETF Group A federal appeals court blocked implementation of Southern California Edison’s lawsuit settlement with the state Public Utilities Commission and sent it back to a lower court for further review Dan Werbin was named president of Ford Motor Co.’s Irvine-based Volvo North America unit, replacing Mark LaNeve, who left to head General Motors Corp.’s Cadillac division; meanwhile, Mike Beasley was promoted to managing director of Ford’s Irvine-based Jaguar unit, replacing Jonathan Browning, who resigned.
TECHNOLOGY
Citicorp priced an offering of 14 million shares of Intersil Corp., Irvine, at $31.50 Ceradyne Inc., Costa Mesa, received a $12.5 million Pentagon contract to supply ceramic armor Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana, posted third-quarter results at the high end of expectations, but warned that its fourth-quarter numbers probably won’t meet analysts’ estimates; Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating of Ingram’s credit to BB-plus, S & P;’s lowest investment-grade rating; meanwhile, Ingram said it will combine its U.S. and Canadian operations into a single North American unit Toshiba American Information Systems Inc., Irvine, laid off 108 employees at its computer systems group Microsemi Corp., Irvine, licensed a back-office software system it developed for its own use to Sequel Inc., Newport Beach Quantum Technologies Inc., Irvine, will test fuel-cell generators as backup power units for Nextel Communi-cations Inc. cell-phone towers Robert S. Messina quit as president and chief operating officer of Troy Group Inc., Santa Ana, and chairman and chief executive Patrick J. Dirk assumed his duties DPAC Technologies Corp., Garden Grove, received $1.6 million in orders for military electronics.
HEALTHCARE
C3 Capital LLC, Newport Beach, offered $19.5 million for all the assets of American Retirement Villas Properties III LP, including two retirement facilities; previously, C3 had offered $3 million for 10,000 partnership shares in American, which elicited a counter-bid of $3.6 million for the shares from American’s managing partner, Costa Mesa-based ARV Assisted Living Inc. Dissident shareholder Special Situation Partners Inc. prodded Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s chairman Milan Panic to speed the planned breakup of the company in a letter questioning management’s commitment to the restructuring plan The board of Quality Systems Inc., Tustin, approved the repurchase of up to 5% of the company’s shares.
GOVERNMENT
The Mexican government paid Metalclad Corp., Newport Beach, $16 million to settle a NAFTA complaint brought by the company Huntington Beach Mayor Pam Julien Houchen came out against the proposed El Toro airport; meanwhile, the Navy said it will complete its review of the county’s plan for the former El Toro base by Feb. 22 (see related story, page 1) The state Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable are backing a plan to put $10 million in school, affordable housing and transportation construction bonds on the March ballot California State University, Fullerton, economist Anil Puri predicted that the local economy will begin to turn around in the second quarter.
REAL ESTATE
Price Legacy Corp. has redrafted and renamed the proposed Pointe Anaheim project across Harbor Boulevard from the Disneyland Resort; the new Garden District of Anaheim plan emphasizes retail and extensive landscaping HomeSeekers.com Inc., Brea, will lay off 34 employees, 18% of its workforce.
FINANCE
Missouri-based First Banks America Inc. completed its acquisition of BYL Bancorp, Orange, for $52 million First American Corp., Santa Ana, acquired Fusion MLS, Sacramento Pharmacists at the Carlsbad-based Prescription Solution unit of Santa Ana-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. voted to join the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Alex, Kay and Nader Hakakian acquired the assets of bankrupt Brea-based Krause’s Furniture Inc. for $1.6 million and agreed to pay $1.8 million in back rent to store landlords and fill orders for 8,800 customers who lost deposits in the company’s bankruptcy; the Brea factory resumed production last week The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reported a $14.3 million operating loss for the fiscal year ended June 30; diocese officials attributed the loss to a $20 million decline in investment earnings and a $12 million increase in diocese grants to needy parishes and parochial students Oakley Inc., Foothill Ranch, completed its acquisition of Iacon Inc. The average daily circulation of the OC Register for the six months ended Sept. 30 fell 9.4% to 324,956 copies, and Sunday circulation was down 9.2% to 378,934 copies Fred LeFranc was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ruby’s Diner Inc., Irvine.
