TOP STORIES
California Private Transportation Co. said it will have to go to investors for more funds to keep the 91 Express Lanes operating; Orange and Riverside county lawmakers proposed a public buyout of the controversial lanes; OCTA officials said they will not testify at a state Senate committee hearing on last year’s aborted sale of the lanes … The Irvine Co. withdrew a plan to expand Fashion Island and Newport Center, saying a growth-limitation initiative on the March ballot creates “significant obstacles” … Downey Financial Corp., Newport Beach, said it had formed a board committee to look for ways to raise capital; its main unit, Downey Savings & Loan, said it will sell its auto-finance unit to California Federal Bank for an undisclosed amount … Tickets.com Inc., Costa Mesa, was tapped by the Salt Lake City Olympic committee to sell about 800,000 tickets to the 2002 Winter Games; the company also received ticketing contracts from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Delphi Indy 200 in Orlando, Fla., and signed a three-year deal to be primary sponsor of the Al Unser Jr.’s Indy race car … PairGain Technologies Inc., Tustin, sold its microelectronics group for $242.6 million to New Jersey-based GlobeSpan Inc., which said no layoffs are anticipated at the 40-person unit … Len Mosovits resigned as president and CEO of Irvine-based Met-Rx USA Inc., and Rexall Sundown Inc., which acquired Met-Rx last month, said it will lay off half of Met-Rx’s 140 employees and move most of the rest to its Boca Raton, Fla., HQ, retaining about a dozen in OC … Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. sold its 19% stake in Cruttenden Roth Inc., Newport Beach, back to that firm for $6 million and said it plans to sell other non-core investments … Day Runner Inc., Irvine, cut 30 management jobs after posting disappointing financials for the last quarter … Pimco Advisors Holdings LP, Newport Beach, posted a net outflow of $3 billion from its funds in the fourth quarter, paced by $5.3 billion in outflows from its Oppenheimer Capital unit.
WHAT’S NEW
Shares of Conexant Systems Inc., Newport Beach, were added to the S & P; 500; its stock rose 18% on the news Moody’s Investors Service said it had placed CKE Restaurants Inc., Anaheim, under review for a possible downgrade … Ernst & Young launched an Irvine-based subsidiary to recruit, train and place information-technology consultants … General Automation Inc., Irvine, said it will absorb wholly owned subsidiary Liberty Integration Software into its main operations and change its name to GA eXpress … BuyNow.com, Aliso Viejo, partnered with Phone.com, Redwood City, to enable e-commerce transactions via web-enabled cell phones … Autobytel.com Inc., Irvine, launched a program that lets carbuyers conduct their transactions online … Cardiac Science Inc., Irvine, received FDA approval to market a commercial version of its Powerheart defibrillator and said it has a $1.2 million backlog of orders for the product, which it has begun shipping … Nexell Therapeutics Inc., Irvine, licensed seven antibodies from Diaclone SA, Bescan & #231;on, France … Microsemi Corp., Santa Ana, received a patent for design aspects of its circuits used in liquid-crystal displays … Globalock Corp., Costa Mesa, changed its name to American Inflatables Inc. … BRE Properties Inc., San Francisco, opened a Newport Beach office … StarBase Corp., Santa Ana, said it had entered a product-integration and co-marketing partnership with pragma Systems Corp., Fairfax, Va. … Anaheim Convention Center officials said they will allocate $3 million to $4 million to renovate the Anaheim Arena.
DEALS
Diedrich Coffee Inc., Irvine, signed a franchise deal with New England Coffeehouses LLP to open 50 coffeehouses on the East Coast … Ingram Micro Inc., Santa Ana, said it has invested an undisclosed amount in Viacore Inc., a startup developing ways to facilitate business-to-business e-commerce … Solimar.Net, Tustin, said it will be acquired by Basis 100 Inc., Toronto, for $24 million Volt Information Sciences Inc., Orange, received a contract to provide information-technology personnel to Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo … Printrak International Inc., Anaheim, received a $10.8 million contract from TRW Inc. (see related item on page 49) … Techniclone Corp., Tustin, said it will license an anti-tumor antibody from the University of Texas … Beckman Coulter Inc., Fullerton, signed a contract to supply its Access Immunochemistry System and select chemistries to Novation, which represents 6,500 healthcare organizations.
FINANCIAL
STM Wireless Inc., Irvine, said its SkyOnline Inc. unit had received $59 million in outside funding … Shareholder TIAA-CREF said the board of Orange-based Bergen Brunswig Corp. had agreed to rescind its dead-hand poison pill … Cogent Healthcare Inc., Laguna Hills, received $9.5 million venture funding … Euroventures Benelux reduced its stake in Garden Grove-based Dense-Pac Microsystems Inc. from 24.3% to 22.9% … Covenant Group Inc., Irvine, acquired a 20% stake in Envisions, Los Angeles … Apria Healthcare Group Inc., Costa Mesa, said it will record a fourth-quarter tax benefit of $131 million … Shares of Newport Corp., Irvine, rose 22% to a 52-week high in heavy trading, on a strong earnings report (see page 14) … The board of Research Engineers Inc., Yorba Linda, approved a 2-for-1 stock split (related story, page 7) … Westminster Capital Inc. acquired a 68% stake in Santa Ana-based Logic Technology Group Inc., for $4.8 million.
LITIGATION, INVESTIGATIONS
ETM Entertainment Network Inc., Costa Mesa, sued Ticketmaster and the management company for the Red Hot Chili Peppers for violating its exclusive ticket-selling agreement with a South Carolina arena … A Delaware judge dismissed a shareholder suit against Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s chairman Milan Panic, which alleged he had cost the company millions by sexually harassing employees … Laura A. Landis, former VP for men’s merchandising, filed a sexual-harassment and wrongful-termination suit against Irvine-based Mossimo Inc. … Three law firms sued Kwikset Corp., Irvine, alleging it labeled locks “Made in U.S.A.” when 60% to 80% of the work on them was done in Mexico … Performance Machine Inc., La Palma, sued Custom Chrome Inc., Morgan Hill, for patent infringement.
GOVERNMENT
Standard & Poor’s upgraded OC’s overall bond rating to A … A bill to require legislative approval to build roads through state parks, opposed by supporters of the planned Foothill South toll road in OC, was passed by the state Senate … The Irvine City Council voted to sue the Airport Land Use Commission over its refusal to lift land-use restrictions around the former base at El Toro.
IN CONCLUSION
Five directors were elected to the board of William Lyon Homes, Newport Beach: William H. Lyon, son of chairman William Lyon; former Irvine Co. exec William H. McFarland; former E & Y; Kenneth Leventhal exec Michael L. Meyer; Randolph W. Westerfield, dean of USC’s business school; and former Lyon Homes vice chairman Richard E. Frankel … The LA County Coroner’s Office said the December death of Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger chairman and CEO H. Guy Snyder was caused by an accidental overdose of the painkiller Vicodin.
