Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
DVS Shoe Co. in Westminster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans a court-supervised auction of its assets. DVS makes shoes, clothes and accessories inspired by skateboarding, snowboarding and motocross under its DVS and Matix brands. An unnamed company has offered to pay $4 million for the assets of DVS, which recently moved to OC from Torrance.
Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc., which operates 533 apparel stores for girls and young adult women, said it expects a loss of $2.9 million to $5.7 million in the current quarter. Analysts on average had been forecasting a $950,000 profit. Wet Seal said it expects revenue of $136 million to $141 million for the quarter; Wall Street was expecting revenue of $148.2 million.
San Clemente-based Peligroso Spirits Co. signed pacts to expand distribution of its Peligroso Tequila to 45 states, up from a current base of 11 states.
The expansion includes “high-profile” states such as Georgia, Colorado, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, officials said.
Disneyland Resort raised the price of tickets to its Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks in Anaheim. One admission to either park now costs $87, up from $80. Prices for various classes of annual passes also were raised. The cost of a premium pass jumped by $60—to $150—and now costs $329 to $649, depending on access. Deluxe passes cost $469; Southern California Select passes are $269. The price hikes precede the opening of California Adventure’s new Cars Land attraction next month.
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp Inc. tapped three outside board members, including two from Irvine-based advisory firm Carpenter & Co. The Pacific Mercantile Bank parent named Ed Carpenter board chair, replacing the late George Wells. Carpenter is chief executive of Irvine-based advisory Carpenter & Co. and a managing partner of private equity arm Carpenter Community BancFund. The fund recently bought about 4.2 million shares of Pacific Mercantile’s common stock for a 26% stake. Carpenter & Co. President and Chief Operating Officer John Flemming also joined the board, along with Michael Hoopis, chief executive of Anaheim-based laptop-accessories company Targus Group International Inc.
The board of Tustin-based Sunwest Bank promoted bank President Chris Walsh to chief executive. He replaces Glenn Gray, who resigned after six years in the post.
Santa Ana-based mortgage lender Stearns Lending Inc. named industry veteran Gary Fabian chief financial officer, replacing John Glazer. Fabian was vice president of production finance at MetLife Home Loans, the residential mortgage division of MetLife Bank N.A., a subsidiary of New York-based MetLife Inc.
Closing on the Newport Coast estate once known as Villa del Lago was delayed after Irvine Company filed an objection, claiming the property at 1 Pelican Hill Road was auctioned off with insufficient notice. Japan Times publisher Toshiaki Ogasawara was awarded the property after bidding $18.5 million in a bankruptcy court auction of the 16,600-square-foot, 12.5-acre estate. Irvine Co., which sold the land to the site’s prior owner several years ago, also contended the property couldn’t be sold until construction work was completed. Ogasawara and Irvine Co. reportedly were hashing out a deal in which the buyer would promise to complete $3 million in construction quickly, and the developer would withdraw objections. The estate was once valued at $87 million.
Costa Mesa-based Experian Marketing Services acquired Burlington, Mass.-based Conversen Inc. on undisclosed terms. Experian Marketing Services is part of Experian Information Solutions Inc., which operates as the North America division of Dublin, Ireland-based Experian PLC. Conversen provides data, analytics and marketing software. It uses mobile, social and Web-based platforms to develop marketing technology tools.
Irvine-based electronics company Vizio Inc. was named in a patent-infringement suit filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, alleges violations of patents covering digital televisions, Blu-ray disc players and other products.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
MIXED: Home sales in Orange County. Almost 18% more homes were sold here in April than a year earlier, with 2,920 sales recorded, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The average price of homes sold dipped 2%, or $10,000 to $420,000, compared to April 2011. A 5% uptick in home sales was recorded in the six-county Southern California region in April, with the average selling price climbing 4% from a year earlier to $290,000.
