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Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. last week said it’s interested in buying rival Bausch & Lomb Inc. and is willing to pay more than the $3.67 billion offered by private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Bausch & Lomb, which agreed to be acquired by Warburg Pincus last week, didn’t comment on the rival bid. Under terms of the deal with Warbug Pincus, Bausch & Lomb has the right to solicit other offers during the next 50 days. Advanced Medical, a maker of eye surgery products and contact lens solutions, said it only would proceed with a bid after reviewing Bausch & Lomb’s financial records.
Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. last week said it was selling three Orange County offices formerly owned by Equity Office Properties Trust. A partnership between Muller Co., a Laguna Hills-based developer, and Rockwood Capital LLC of Greenwich, Conn., is paying $310 million for the three buildings. The deal includes the 230,000-square-foot Tower 17 in Irvine, the 366,000-square-foot 1100 Executive Tower in Orange and Lincoln Town Center in Santa Ana. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter. This deal is part of Maguire’s plan to sell off a number of Orange County buildings in the Equity Office portfolio it acquired earlier this year from Blackstone Group LP, part of a $2.9 billion deal.
Clean Energy Fuels Inc., the Seal Beach company backed by T. Boone Pickens, went public last week after cutting the number of shares offered and their price. The company, which provides natural gas for buses, taxis and other fleets, priced its shares at $12, below an earlier expected range of $13 to $17. Clean Energy sold 10 million shares, raising $120 million. It earlier hoped to raise as much as $345 million.
Legendary oilman and corporate raider Pickens is Clean Energy’s principal shareholder, founder and a director. He owns about 73% of the company.
The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to recommend an administrative proceeding into Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc.’s dealings with security software maker McAfee Inc. from 1998 to 2000, the company said last week. Regulators contend Ingram Micro, the largest distributor of computer products, didn’t keep adequate records of some transactions with Network Associates Inc., now known as Santa Clara-based McAfee. Ingram Micro said it plans to cooperate with the SEC notice. Regulators have been looking at the company’s dealings with McAfee since 2004.
Irvine-based subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. last week said its 2005 earnings likely were “significantly” inflated due to accounting errors. New Century already had said its 2006 earnings could no longer be relied upon because of similar errors. The latest disclosure could increase the odds that federal criminal and regulatory charges are levied against New Century, according to reports. New Century filed for bankruptcy in April. The company has no plans to restate either its 2005 or 2006 earnings since it is in the process of liquidating. New Century has said at least 27 lawsuits have been filed against the company, its officers and directors.
Irvine’s Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., which buys mortgages as investments, is looking to start making loans itself with the acquisition of Florida’s Pinnacle Financial Corp. A subsidiary of Impac is buying Pinnacle’s business of making loans on its own and through brokers. The transaction is expected to close by the end of May. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Joel Waller, the executive who turned around Foothill Ranch-based retailer Wet Seal Inc., is set to step down in February when his contract is up. Wet Seal said last week it doesn’t plan to renew his contract. The company, which sells clothes for girls and young women at mall stores, plans to search for a replacement. Waller has overseen a dramatic turnaround of Wet Seal. The company’s troubles started in the late 1990s, when its styles fell out of favor with teen fashionistas. With the help of turnaround consultant Michael Gold, Waller closed unprofitable stores, switched up management and cut costs.
Anaheim-based retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. named its interim boss for the past eight months as its permanent chief executive last week. Sally Frame Kasaks has been leading an on-again, off-again turnaround at the operator of mall stores selling surfwear and urban clothes. She’s been a Pacific Sunwear director since 1997 and stepped in late last year after the departure of Seth Johnson amid poor results. Frame Kasaks signed a contract through early 2010.
