Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Irvine-based employment screening company HireRight Inc. is being bought by Virginia’s US Investigations Services LLC for $195 million. US Investigations agreed to pay HireRight shareholders a 49% premium above HireRight’s closing price before the deal. HireRight employs about 300 workers in Orange County. The deal, which is expected to close by September, still needs to be approved by HireRight shareholders and regulators.
Fountain Valley’s Cam Commerce Solutions Inc., a maker of retail and payment processing software, is being bought in a private equity deal for about $180 million. A unit of Boston-based private equity firm Grant Hill Partners agreed to pay 8% more than what Cam’s shares were worth before the deal. The company’s board has approved the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. is paying $150 million for a prescription acne gel that recently was cleared by regulators for wider use. Allergan is buying Aczone from Vancouver, British Columbia’s QLT Inc. in a deal expected to close in the third quarter. The company expects yearly sales of Aczone to reach $75 million. Allergan has annual revenue of $4 billion.
A Jefferies & Co. analyst said he expects smaller gains for Irvine-based Quality Systems Inc. Analyst Richard Close maintained a “buy” rating on Quality but cut his target stock price to $39 from $45 and lowered his outlook. Close’s action came after Quality said profit for the quarter ended March 31 rose 32% to $11.3 million, meeting analysts’ estimates. Quality had a market value of about $890 million last week.
REAL ESTATE
Centex Corp., KB Home, Pulte Homes Inc. and Richmond American Homes agreed to pay a total of $4.3 million in penalties to resolve alleged violations of storm water run-off regulations at construction sites in Orange County and in 33 other states and the District of Columbia. Centex’s fine was the largest at $1.5 million.
APPAREL
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. will sell shoes in 200 of its stores in time for the back-to-school season, the company said at an investor conference. In April, the company said it would stop selling sneakers and other shoes at its PacSun clothing chain but would continue carrying flip-flops and sandals. Earlier this year, the company closed a chain of shoe stores. Pacific Sunwear plans to sell shoes from Nike Inc., Quiksilver Inc.’s DC Shoes and other makers.
ARTS
The Orange County Museum of Art is moving from Newport Beach to Costa Mesa, with Thom Mayne, winner of the 2005 Pritzker Prize for architecture, named to design a building alongside the Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory and the Ren & #233;e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The building would be at least 72,000 square feet with the possibility of condominiums on top.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. said it’s buying a unit of Scottish Re Group Ltd. for $71.2 million. Scottish Re is a Bermuda-based reinsurance company, or insurer of insurance companies. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter and could be adjusted to a lower price.
GOVERNMENT
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department veteran Sandra Hutchens was named Orange County sheriff, becoming the first woman to hold the post. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to appoint Hutchens, who takes the spot of Mike Carona, who stepped down in January to fight federal corruption charges. The board opted for Hutchens over Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, who ran against Carona in 1998. Hutchens pledged to clean up county jails and audit the department within her first four months in office.
After an all-day hearing on the county’s proposed $6.6 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, county supervisors were poised to move forward with a spending plan that was little changed from the original proposal. The net change to the budget was a cut of $60,000 in spending but an additional four positions. Some areas are slated to receive large increases in funding, such as an additional $3.1 million to double the number of psychiatric beds in the county to 26. Money to pay for that will come from elsewhere in the budget. A final vote is scheduled for June 24.
OTHER NEWS
Automaker Jaguar Land Rover North America is moving its headquarters from Irvine back to northern New Jersey. The word comes shortly after Tata Motors Ltd. of India finalized its $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Co., which used to have the U.S. headquarters of its Premier Automotive Group in Irvine. Jaguar Land Rover employs about 50 people in Irvine. They have the option to move to New Jersey.
Irvine-based Entrepreneur Media Inc., publisher of Entrepreneur magazine, is being bought by two private equity firms, according to a report last week. Austin Ventures and an undisclosed Boston private equity firm are buying Entrepreneur Media for less than $200 million, in the lower range of what the company was expecting, according to a report on Santa Monica-based ContentNext Media Inc.’s PaidContent.org Web site.
