EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TOP STORY
Newport Beach-based The Irvine Company closed on its previously reported deal to buy the 34-story Symphony Towers office building in downtown San Diego from Swedish pension plan Alecta. The price is believed to be $134 million.
TECHNOLOGY
Dell Computer Corp. said it would use wireless networking chips from Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. in its Latitude D-Family notebook computers. But Broadcom faces competition for Dell’s business: the computer maker also would use wireless networking chips from Intel Corp. in its laptop computers that use Intel’s new Centrino microprocessor … Irvine-based TransDimension Inc. said it closed a round of venture funding for an initial $6 million that could grow to $10 million … Irvine-based Epicor Software Corp. said its chief financial officer, Lee Kim, will leave in May to “pursue other opportunities.” Epicor hired recruiter Korn/Ferry International to find a replacement for Kim, who has been the company’s financial chief since 1999 … Irvine-based SSP Solutions Inc. will handle Internet security on a British Channel Islands-based gambling Web site operated by Las Vegas Sands Inc. The operation will be called Venetian Interactive … Blue Bell, Pa.-based business software maker Satori Group Inc. opened a Newport Beach operation headed by Debra L. Morris, the former chief financial officer of Irvine-based auto repair chain Caliber Holdings Corp. … Irvine-based STM Wireless Inc. got bankruptcy court approval to sell its assets to Sloan Capital Partners for $1.6 million and $1.3 million in assumed debt.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Endocare Inc. replaced its top two executives, while an independent accounting review found no signs of “fraud or intentional wrongdoing by management.” Endocare’s former auditor, KPMG International, said last year that it could not vouch for the company’s prior six quarters of results. Endocare, which makes a device to treat prostate cancer by freezing tumors, named William Nydam as chief executive officer and Katherine Greenberg as chief financial officer. The company’s former chief, Paul Mikus is expected to stay on as chairman while former finance chief John Cracchiolo will be a unit president … Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp. plans to buy Tustin medical device maker X Technologies Inc. for $200 million, according to a report. Privately held X Technologies also has operations in Israel … Irvine-based Sicor Inc. won tentative approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell a generic version of Schering AG’s leukemia treatment Fludara.
FINANCE
Anaheim-based Western Tax Services Inc. was sued by the Justice Department for allegedly filing bogus tax returns, many of them for Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton. But the company wasn’t shut down entirely: a federal judge said the government didn’t show Western Tax was doing immediate harm.
GOVERNMENT
The state’s Public Utilities Commission said Verizon Communications Inc., which serves coastal Orange County and other areas, must lease its local lines to AT & T; Corp. and WorldCom Inc.’s MCI Group at a rate of $16.33 a month vs. the $28.96 it now charges. The move aims to spur competition for local service among Verizon, the phone companies and cable provider Cox Communications Inc., which also provides local service in some county cities … Huntington Beach-based KOCE-TV hired San Francisco-based brokerage company Media Venture Partners to help find a buyer or operating partner.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. bid on part of a $900 million reconstruction effort should the U.S. go to war with Iraq. The government invited several U.S. companies to bid on highway, sanitation, school and other public works projects. Meanwhile, Fluor said it bought five specialty and maintenance units from Houston-based Philip Services Corp. for an undisclosed amount. The company said the deal would not have a “material impact” on its outlook for the year. And Fluor’s Mexico venture, ICA Fluor-Daniel, won part of a $500 million deal to develop oil fields for Petr & #243;leos Mexicanos … Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. said it will open five to 10 retail stores in Shanghai, China, by early 2004. Quiksilver plans to eventually open 30 to 40 more stores in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. The surfwear maker is teaming with Hong Kong’s Glorious Sun Enterprises Ltd., which owns some 500 retail stores in China, on the expansion. Glorious Sun has a stake in Irvine-based action-sports clothes maker Ambiguous Industries … Smiths Aerospace said it will move its Yorba Linda operations to Corona. Smiths, a unit of the Britain’s Smiths Group PLC, which has 65 workers in its 70,000-square-foot OC flight refueling operations, is moving to a 128,000-square-foot plant … Aliso Viejo-based RemedyTemp Inc. said it bought Nashville-based Staffing Services Inc. for an undisclosed price. Staffing Services, which had $26 million in sales last year, has 23 full-time workers … Anaheim-based Bridgford Foods Corp. said it posted a net loss of $153,000 in the quarter ended Jan. 24 vs. a profit of $1.6 million a year ago on a 15.1% decline in sales to $32.4 million. The maker of frozen foods said it was hurt by a slow economy and higher costs, including sales promotions, worker healthcare, pension benefits, workers’ compensation and general insurance and fuel related expenses.
