Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Newport Beach-based dental products maker Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. agreed to be bought for $2 billion by Washington, D.C.-based tools maker Danaher Corp. Sybron had a market value of $1.7 billion before the offer. Danaher is taking on about $200 million in Sybron debt. The deal is set to close in the second quarter. Sybron makes filling materials, bonding agents, sterilization products used by dentists and braces, bands, wires and other gear used by orthodontists. Danaher makes Crasftman tools for Sears, as well as some dental instruments, bar code readers and industrial products Newport Beach-based Palace Entertainment Inc., operator of Boomers in Irvine and other family amusement centers across the country, was bought for an estimated $200 million. MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, bought Palace from an investor group led by Windward Capital Partners LP of New York. Palace owns and runs 32 centers in eight states, some under the Boomers name and others as Raging Waters, SpeedZone, Big Kahuna’s and Wet ‘N Wild.
Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., a maker of host bus adapters and other networking gear, lowered its earnings and sales guidance for the quarter ended April 2. The company blamed the revised outlook on declines in demand from two major customers. The company is set to report its quarterly results on April 27.
CooperVision, the contact lens unit of Lake Forest-based Cooper Cos., sued rival Ciba Vision Corp. for alleged patent infringement. In a lawsuit filed in Texas, CooperVision alleged that Ciba, the eye care arm of Switzerland’s Novartis AG, violated patents relating to CooperVision’s 02Optix contact lenses.
Irvine-based ECC Capital Corp., parent company of mortgage financier Encore Credit, last week said it planned to cut 17%, or 170 people, of its work force nationwide. The subprime mortgage lender employs about 580 people in Orange County and 1,265 in all William Lyon last week upped his offer for shares of homebuilder William Lyon Homes Inc. that he doesn’t already own. His latest offer was $100 per share, up 7.5% from his offer in March. The new offer values the homebuilding company at $865 million The Irvine Company’s Donald Bren pledged $20 million to Irvine schools for arts and sciences programs. Bren, chairman and owner of the Irvine Co., gave the money for the hiring of teachers who specialize in the arts, music and science. Students in grades fourth through sixth are set to benefit from the money during the next 10 years Developer Michael Harrah said he plans to sell the former Masonic Temple he owns in downtown Santa Ana to the Church of Scientology, which hopes to be using the facility in the next six months.
John Wayne Airport officials said passenger traffic fell 0.8% to 814,981 in March, versus a year earlier. Takeoffs and landings fell 1.8% to 26,608 in March. Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings upgraded John Wayne Airport’s revenue bonds from “A+” to “AA-” with a stable outlook. Fitch cited the airport’s leasing structure and budgeting for the upgrade.
Marie Callender Pie Shops Inc. last week said it was set to be bought by Memphis, Tenn.-based Restaurant Co., which runs 500 Perkins coffee shops in 35 states, in a stock-for-stock deal. Terms of the deal still were being negotiated, but the Restaurant Co. said it planned to pay off Marie Callender’s $100 million in debt. New York-based private equity firm Castle Harlan Inc. controls both companies through funds it manages. Marie Callender’s is set to cut 40 to 63 workers at its Aliso Viejo headquarters when the sale closes Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group and France’s Zodiac SA completed their $380 million buyout of Newport Beach-based Water Pik Technologies Inc. Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. named Gary White as chief operating officer, a position that’s been open at the teen retailer since June of last year. White, a former executive with Target Corp. and Mervyns LLC, is set to oversee Wet Seal’s plan to double its store count Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp. cut 5% of its staff at Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. in Cypress. Parent Mitsubishi cut 25 sales-related jobs at its North American headquarters in Cypress and closed a regional office in Illinois The National Basketball Association Development League said a team will play out of Anaheim Arena for the next three years. Teams play 50-game seasons. A name is set to be announced this week Wal-Mart Stores Inc. proposed building a 170,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter in Garden Grove.
