ENERGY
Mission Energy Holding Co., Irvine, completed the sale of $800 million in bonds at 14% and obtained a $385 million bank loan, with the proceeds going to pay off debt of parent Edison International; meanwhile, Edison sold its Edison Select home security unit to ADT Security Services Inc., a unit of Tyco International Ltd., for an undisclosed price Standard & Poor’s removed the state’s general obligation bonds from CreditWatch and affirmed their rating as A+ with a negative long-term outlook because of continuing energy purchases A special state Senate committee investigating electricity pricing and chaired by Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, voted to hold power producers Enron Corp. and Mirant Corp. in contempt of the Legislature for failing to turn over records A joint venture of Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. and Mexico City-based Empresas ICA won a $159 million contract from San Diego-based Sempra Energy to build a 600-megawatt power plant and transmission lines in Mexicali Edison Mission Energy, Irvine, will get about $1 million in incentive payments from the state for finishing the Sunrise Power Plant in Kern County a month ahead of schedule.
TOP STORIES
UCLA’s Anderson Business Forecast said California will enter a recession in the second half, but it will be centered in Northern California while Southern California may just see slower growth; meanwhile, Chapman University revised its estimate of job growth in the county this year from 3.5% to 2.4% The Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate a quarter percentage point, to 3.75% Bergen Brunswig Corp., Orange, received a five-year supply contract worth about $400 million from Big A Drug Stores Inc., South Gate Exult Inc., Irvine, filed for a secondary offering of up to 6.7 million shares, which were trading at the 17 level late last week.
TECHNOLOGY
French firm Titus Interactive said it will not sell the 34% of Irvine-based Interplay Entertainment Corp.’s common shares that it owns, but Interplay chief executive Brian Fargo said he still is in talks to sell the company The office products unit of Irvine-based Toshiba America acquired Offtech Inc., Wilmington, Mass. DDi Corp., Anaheim, warned that its second-quarter revenue and earnings will be less than expected Tickets.com Inc., Costa Mesa, received an extension from Nasdaq to comply with the minimum share price requirement of $1 and will ask shareholders to approve a 1-for-8 reverse stock split and a new financing agreement at its annual meeting July 8 (see related story on page 1) Powerwave Technologies Inc., Santa Ana, finalized a deal to supply Motorola Inc. with amplifiers for cellular base stations Anaheim-based Odetics Inc.’s broadcast unit sold a broadcast automation system to Cosmos Satellite Television of Macau, China Broadband Storage, Irvine, leased 15,000 square feet of space in University Research Park.
HEALTHCARE
Allergan Inc., Irvine, acquired an exclusive license to a dry-eye treatment developed by Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc., for $39 million and a percentage of the sales of its own dry-eye treatment, Restasis; both treatments are in phase 3 clinical trials Moody’s Investors Service lowered its rating of the debt of Santa Ana-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. to B1 from Ba3 Radiance Medical Systems Inc., Irvine, received CE Mark approval to market its RDX Coronary Radiation Delivery System in Europe and elsewhere AMDL Inc., Tustin, retained New York-based Porter, LeVay & Rose Inc. to be its investor relations counsel.
GOVERNMENT
Riverside County, where OC ships a third of its sewage sludge, banned the use of such waste as fertilizer Frederick P. Horn was elected presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court for a two-year term Three trustees of the Orange Unified School District were recalled Supervisors agreed to study whether to turn one of the blimp hangars at the former Tustin air base into a military museum and veterans center The Dana Point City Council approved paying $400,000 over four years for naming rights to a sailing ship recently acquired by the Ocean Institute.
REAL ESTATE
The Newport Beach City Council approved a plan for a 10-story office tower at the Koll Center Newport complex and this month will set a date for a citywide vote on the plan under the recently passed Greenlight Initiative Crown Realty & Development, Irvine, acquired a 258,000-square-foot industrial and office complex in El Monte from Avnet Inc. for $30 million A court commissioner has ordered the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and Signal Landmark Inc. to arbitration over Signal’s contention that the Amigos violated a 1989 settlement agreement by opposing the firm’s current development plan for the Bolsa Chica Mesa The Abbey Co., Garden Grove, acquired a 30,000-square-foot building in Orange from a private investment group.
FINANCE
West Coast Bancorp will merge into its majority-owned subsidiary, Tustin-based Sunwest Bank New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, raised its earnings estimate for the year Three principals of Huntington Beach-based CBN Financial Resources Corp., also known as Trans Lending Co., were indicted on charges of defrauding investors of $2.6 million by selling promissory notes on nonexistent car loans The SEC sued Newport Beach-based Tradamax Group Inc. alleging it has made false claims in news releases and has failed to maintain proper records and file reports.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
New Horizons Worldwide Inc., Santa Ana, will lay off 100 employees, about 7% of its workforce, including 35 in OC Merrill Lynch & Co. downgraded shares of Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. to “reduce” from “accumulate”; meanwhile, the company filed to raise up to $300 million in a sale of debt securities Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc., Newport Beach, and Imax Corp. have failed to negotiate a settlement of Imax’s claim it is owed $29 million in licensing fees under lease contracts that the theater chain wants to shed so it can close six Imax theaters.
