Other news items of interest from the Orange County Business Journal
Foothill Ranch-based retailer Wet Seal Inc. is asking shareholders to reject a proxy battle initiated by a major shareholder. New York asset management firm Clinton Group Inc., which has a 6.9% share of Wet Seal stock, has called for the company’s board to be made over with five of its nominees for seats of its own proposed candidates.
Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive Inc., which makes the Karma luxury-hybrid sedan, announced a $100 million funding round involving undisclosed investors, bringing its total to $1.2 billion. Separately, Newport Beach-based specialty vehicle rental company Go Rentals agreed to add the Karma to its fleet. Go Rentals serves the private-jet industry with vehicles available to meet customers at their planes, hotels or airports. The Karma, which sells for upward of $100,000, also got a negative review in Consumer Reports magazine, which the vehicle’s interior as cramped, said gauges in the car were ergonomically flawed and called visibility poor.
Chapman University in Orange bought two buildings in the Irvine Spectrum from Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners for $20 million. They will house the school’s new graduate health sciences programs. About $24 million worth of renovations are planned before the classes start, with en expected opening in 2014.
Newport Beach City Council said it prefers a luxury hotel project to be built at its City Hall site once city administration moves into the Civic Center under construction in Newport Center. Members also agreed to consider mixed-use residential and commercial development for the tract.
Paragon Biomedical Inc. of Irvine was sold to North Carolina-based Clinipace Worldwide Inc. on undisclosed terms. Paragon runs clinical trials for drug makers, medical device makers and biotechnology companies.
Orange-based St. Joseph Health started construction the $261 million St. Mary Medical Center-Victorville. The 128-room facility is set to open in 2016. St. Joseph also operates St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley.
Carlsbad medical-device company Alphatec Holdings Inc. bought some assets of Phygen LLC, an Irvine-based spinal-implant maker, for $15.2 million in stock and cash. Alphatec develops and manufactures surgical products for spine disorders.
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Comvest Group bought fireplace maker FMI Products LLC in Santa Ana on undisclosed terms. The private equity firm plans to merge FMI with Tennessee-based Lennox Hearth Products LLC to create a new Santa Ana-based company, Innovate Heath Products.
The OC Weekly’s parent, Phoenix-based Village Voice Media Holdings LLC, is being sold to a Denver-based holding company established by several of its executives as Voice Media Group. The deal came on undisclosed, and includes 13 free arts weeklies and their websites, including Costa Mesa-based OC Weekly and sister publications, LA Weekly and SF Weekly.
U.K.-based Rentokil Initial PLC bought Anaheim-based Western Exterminator Co. for $99.6 million and up to $15 million in additional payments based on milestones during the next 18 months.
New York-based Kodiak Capital Group LLC agreed to buy up to $3 million worth of shares in Seal Beach-based TransBioTec Inc., a developer of alcohol-testing systems for drivers, pilots and others. The investment will come via over-the-counter stock buys during the next year and could give Kodiak up to a 30% stake in TransBio.
Santa Ana-based simulation-software maker MSC Software Corp. bought e-Xstream Engineering on undisclosed terms. The Michigan-based software and engineering-services company was founded in 2003.
Southwest Airlines’ flight attendants approved a contract change allowing over-water flights. The approval was needed should the airline eventually seek to initiate service to Hawaii from John Wayne Airport.
Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Nicholas plans to appeal a federal judge’s rejection of $78 million in tax write-offs of investment losses. The case involves Nicholas’ purchase of $303 million in nonperforming Asian loans in 2001.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: The outlook on home-foreclosures in Orange County in July, when the rate fell to less than 1.8%, according to Santa Ana-based CoreLogic Inc. The rate was 1.8% the prior month and more than 2% a year earlier. The mortgage delinquency rate dipped to 4.5% in July from 4.6% in June and 6.1% in July 2011.
