EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. got a court order limiting actions by subsidiary Ribapharm Inc. as ICN seeks to remove most of Ribapharm’s directors. Ribapharm can’t issue stock, incur debt or license products under the order without the OK of ICN, which is weighing whether to sell its 80% stake in Ribapharm or take the biotech drug maker back after last spring’s partial spinoff. ICN objects to Ribapharm’s 35-day delay for shareholder actions and bonuses and stock options awarded to officers. Ribapharm called the criticisms “false and misleading.”
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Toshiba America Inform-ation Systems Inc. is increasing production of its tablet personal computers by 35% on strong November sales Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co. said a five-year memory chip supply deal with Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG could help the company double sales of its dynamic random access memory products next year Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. is suing 27 adult Web sites, alleging they violate the company’s video streaming patents Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. said it sold a San Diego chip test facility to Singapore’s ST Assembly Test Services Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Endocare Inc. fired its finance vice president, Joseph A. Hafermann, for undisclosed “misconduct”; auditor KPMG International said 2001 and first-half 2002 financial results couldn’t be trusted because managers weren’t truthful and it would resign if the issues aren’t addressed A pair of Tyco International Ltd. units filed patent infringement lawsuits against Irvine medical-device maker Masimo Corp., which had filed a suit earlier this year against a Tyco unit alleging that it was a monopoly.
GOVERNMENT
The Board of Supervisors is going ahead with a Jan. 28 special election to replace newly elected Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, even though a judge warned he might cancel the vote because of flaws in the ballot measure that made the election possible The University of California, Irvine, upgraded its fast-growing computer studies department to the School of Information and Computer Science The state’s Airport Land Use Commission voted to keep a 14,000-acre noise and crash buffer zone around the former El Toro Marine base; the move angered developers and city officials who want to use the land to build homes and offices A judge OK’d The Irvine Company’s plan to build the Northern Sphere, a 35,000-resident community and commercial project near the former El Toro base; Newport Beach-based Defend the Bay argued that Irvine’s environmental review was inadequate Tom Mathews, the embattled head of OC’s planning department, will retire Jan. 9 when 39 workers are laid off; the department is losing $500,000 a month and faces an audit The Fullerton City Council approved Grace Ministries International’s plans for a 2,500-seat church and a high school on ConAgra Foods Inc.’s former 260-acre campus Tustin agreed to borrow $60 million from Salomon Smith Barney to settle a dispute with the Santa Ana Unified School District, which will use the money to fund school upgrades and a high school on former Armstrong Ranch land; the district claimed that it was owed the money after part of the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station under its jurisdiction turned out to be too contaminated to build a school there.
REAL ESTATE
Hearthside Homes, whose Irvine-based Signal Landmark Holdings Inc. unit has long been trying to develop part of the Bolsa Chica mesa in Huntington Beach, agreed to let the California Wildlife Conservation Board go ahead with an appraisal of the property in January; the move could pave the way for the board to buy the property from Hearthside The OC Planning Commission approved a 162-home development in Trabuco Canyon near the Cook’s Corner bar and restaurant; supervisors are set to rule on Irvine-based Rutter Development Corp.’s plans in the next month.
FINANCE
Irvine-based Commercial Capital Bancorp raised $40 million in an initial public offering priced at $8 a share, less than the $9-to-$11 range the bank was hoping to get New York-based hedge fund Greenlight Capital LLC, which owns 6.8% of Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp., said it wants to work with the subprime mortgage lender to “increase the value” of its shares Santa Ana-based First American Corp. is forming a background screening company, First Advantage Corp., with Los Angeles-based US Search.com Inc.; the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based publicly traded company will be 80% owned by First American, with US Search holding the rest Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. said it plans to buy the 72% of Orange-based ANFI Inc. it doesn’t own for about $103 million The state Department of Corporations sued Orange subprime lender Long Beach Mortgage Co., part of Washington Mutual Inc., for $9 million, accusing it of overbilling borrowers on interest.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Kohl’s Corp. plans to hire about 1,200 workers for the eight department stores it is opening in OC in the first quarter Boeing Co.’s Seal Beach-based military spy satellite operation could be killed by the government after the Senate and House intelligence committees said the program had “major technical and funding problems”; the projected cost of the system could rise to $17 billion from $9 billion Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. won parts of two contracts: a $250 million pact to build a power plant in Gomez Palacios, Mexico, with partner Empresas ICA Sociedad Controladora SA de CV; and a $236.9 million deal from Kuwait to rebuild a damaged oil and gas operation with South Korea’s SK Engineering Tustin’s National Directories Co. is being bought for $69 million by Yell Group Ltd., a British publisher of phone directories Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. won a $9 million military order for ceramic inserts used in bullet-proof vests Michael Jordan stepped down as a director of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Orange County’s housing market in November, with the median home price rising 19% to $383,000 vs. a year ago, and the number of homes sold up 3.1% to 3,715.
Down: OC’s November jobs picture, with nonfarm payroll dipping 0.3% to 1.42 million and the unemployment rate up 0.3% to 3.9% vs. a year ago.
