Compiled by Mike Mason
Irvine-based Lantronix Inc. said it reached a preliminary settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a financial restatement in 2002. The company said it would not pay any monetary penalties as part of the settlement with regional staff of the SEC. The proposed settlement still needs final approval from the SEC.
Irvine-based BioLase Tech-nology Inc. said it plans to license some of its laser technology to consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. BioLase and Cincinnati-based Procter
& Gamble will develop certain consumer products, such
as toothpaste, mouthwash and whitening strips, with
the laser technology.
Irvine-based California Coastal Commun-ities Inc. said it plans to pay an $11 to $13 per share dividend. The company said it expects to pay the dividend within the next three months, once it completes a $125 million financing deal. The dividend proposal came a day after Connecticut-based Mercury Real Estate Advisors LLC, which owns about 9% of California Coastal, said it was voting against management’s directors and urged a sale of the company or its Bolsa Chica land in Huntington Beach. Another shareholder, Mellon HB Alternative Strategies LLC, hired a consultant earlier this month to wage a proxy battle against California Coastal.
Brea-based mortgage lender Fremont Investment & Loan plans to hire up to 500 workers for a loan servicing center its setting up in Irving, Texas.
Santa Ana-based First American Corp. upped its stock buyback plan by $300 million. The company had acquired about $122 million of stock under its $200 million buyback plan, which began in 2004.
OC Supervisors approved a $5.6 billion budget for the coming year, up 11% from a year ago.
The University of California, Irvine, said researchers won $305 million in funding during the recently ended school year, with more than half coming from medicine and biological sciences. The university’s research funding was up 16% from the prior school year.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. formed a venture with Moscow’s Sprandi International Ltd. to sell surf-inspired Quiksilver and Roxy clothes in Russia.
San Clemente-based Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. bought the 259-room W San Diego for $96 million, or $370,000 per room. Sunstone picked up the hotel from a group led by union pension fund Multi-Employer Development Partners. The hotel will continue to be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Norwalk, Conn.-based HEI Hospitality bought the 293-room Embassy Suites in Irvine for about $60 million. HEI said it plans a $7 million renovation. Merritt Hospitality, a unit of HEI, will manage the hotel.
Aliso Viejo-based RemedyTemp Inc. said its shareholders agreed to be bought by Santa Barbara-based Select Personnel Services for $169 million.
Rich Gilligan, the head of Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. for the past year and a half, is retiring. Gilligan, who turns 63 in September, said he had planed to retire sooner but was recruited to run the North America operation of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in early 2005. Mitsubishi Motors North America will be run by an executive from its parent company in Japan.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County detached home prices in May, down 1% to $724,260 from April, but up 2.9% from a year ago, according to the California Realtors Association. The number of home sales in May rose 8%, versus April, but were down 21% from a year earlier. The realtors association excludes condominiums.
