EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
President Bush nominated Orange County businessman Al Frink as assistant secretary of
manufacturing and services. Frink, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, cofounded Santa Ana carpet maker Fabrica International, now part of Tennessee’s The Dixie Group Inc. The appointment is awaiting congressional approval Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. said it plans to buy Andover, Mass.-based Sand Video Inc. for $77.5 million in cash and stock. Sand Video, which has about 60 workers, is a video compression chip developer (see related Broadcom story).
TECHNOLOGY
Newport Beach-based PivX Solutions LLC started trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board exchange. PivX, which provides Internet security products and services, did a reverse acquisition of Drilling Inc. to get the stock listing Irvine-based Autobytel Inc. said it plans to buy Houston-based iDriveonline, a customer loyalty and retention marketer, for $11.7 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close this month … Shares of Irvine-based Procom Technology Inc. rose 41% to 1.5 after the company said it signed a multiyear licensing pact with Sun Microsystems Inc. to provide Procom’s storage software, devices and services … Irvine-based go2 Directory Systems signed a pact with BellSouth Corp. to provide its Yellow Pages directory to BellSouth wireless subscribers.
HEALTHCARE
Richard Statuto said he plans to step down in October as chief executive and president of Orange-based St. Joseph Health System. Statuto, who has held the positions since 1995, plans to join his family in Gettysburg, Pa., after leaving the company … Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said it couldn’t find bidders for its Lifepath AAA endovascular graft system that treats some types of aneurysms. The device has been approved for use in Europe, but not in the U.S. Sales of the Lifepath device were about $4 million a year. Edwards plans to take a $10 million charge in the first quarter associated with closing the unit … Shares of Irvine-based Cardiac Science Inc. fell 18% to 3.3 after the company warned its first-quarter sales would be $15.6 million to $15.9 million, short of expectations.
REAL ESTATE
Orange County homebuilders had strong sales in the first quarter. Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. said new-home orders in the quarter rose 26% to 2,890, versus a year earlier, while Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes said its new-home orders rose 44% in the period to 1,092.
ENERGY
Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. said the Army expanded a contract with the company to produce fuel systems for a planned hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. The expanded contract is worth $1 million … Grupo Alvica, a Venezuelan venture 80%-owned by Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp., was awarded $36 million for a soil cleanup dispute at an oil upgrade project in Jose, Venezuela.
FINANCE
Shares of Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. rose 8% to 49 after the company’s board approved a plan to convert the sub prime mortgage lender to a real estate investment trust. Standard & Poor’s Rating Services said it might raise the company’s debt rating if shareholders approve the plan. Under a conversion, New Century would hold on to the loans it makes rather than packaging them together and selling them to investors. A real estate investment trust must return 90% of its taxable income to shareholders … A former broker with Bank of America Corp.’s securities unit was indicted on 40 counts of fraud, grand larceny and falsifying records, including a charge that he defrauded Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. of more than $1 million. Theodore Sihpol III was accused of operating a late-trading scheme for Canary Capital Partners LLC in several mutual funds, including some of Allianz AG’s Pimco unit … Huntington Beach-based Pacific Liberty Bank reported first quarter net income of $439,000, more than double net income a year earlier. Total assets grew 36% to $109.3 million in the period.
GOVERNMENT
The Transportation Corridor Agencies put off until May 13 a vote on combining the struggling San Joaquin Hills toll road with the Foothill-Eastern The Orange County Transportation Authority said bids from Kiewit Pacific Co. and Granite Construction Inc. to improve a stretch of the Garden Grove (22) Freeway from Brookhurst Street in Garden Grove to Main Street in Orange were higher than the government estimate of $185 million. The freeway improvement project also has been hurt by the loss of $170 million in state funds.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. said its chief financial officer, Carl W. Womack, plans to retire by the end of the year. Womack will stay with the retailer until a replacement is found. Meanwhile, PacSun said same-store sales in March rose 12.4%, versus a year earlier. The company raised its first-quarter income forecast by 14% … Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said its same-store sales in March fell 21.1%, versus a year earlier. Meanwhile, Wet Seal reported 705 fewer workers than a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wet Seal said it has 6,656 full- and part-time employees after closing some stores and trimming staff at others … Workers were blamed for an accident on Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, less than a month after the ride was reopened after a rider in September was killed during an accident. No one was riding the trains when last week’s rear-ender accident happened. State investigators ordered Walt Disney Co. to retrain its Big Thunder workers.
