EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
A pair of acquisitions topped this week’s news. Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. said it plans to buy Vista-based DC Shoes Inc. for $87 million in cash and stock. The surf apparel maker will take on $10 million of DC Shoes debt and could pay up to $57 million more if performance targets through 2007 are met. Privately held DC Shoes had sales of about $100 million last year. Quiksilver’s existing shoe unit had 2003 sales of $50 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of July. Meanwhile, Quiksilver said its operating profit for the quarter ended Jan. 31 rose 45% to $18.9 million, versus a year earlier, on a 33% jump in sales to $256 million … Warsaw, Ind.-based Biomet Inc. offered $280 million for Irvine-based Interpore International Inc. Shares of Interpore rose 17% near the $14.50 a share buyout price. The deal is set to close in the second quarter.
TECHNOLOGY
Poway-based Gateway Inc. said it completed its $290 million buy of Irvine-based eMachines Inc. A Gateway spokesman said a decision on where to put the combined company’s headquarters hasn’t been made … Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. opened a service center in Moscow … Shares of Garden Grove-based DPAC Technologies Corp. fell 14% to 1.2 after the company said it would stop developing its DuraStack memory stacking process using laser welding because a key tool is too expensive and potentially unusable. DPAC said it would take a $1 million charge to reflect its investment in DuraStack.
HEALTHCARE
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said Michael D. Stephens, its chief executive for 30 years, will retire in summer 2005. Hoag hired North Barrington, Ill.-based Clark Consulting to help find a replacement … Irvine-based Endologix Inc. said it sold 3.2 million shares of its stock to existing and new shareholders in a private placement. The company is expected to use net proceeds of $15.3 million to help Endologix get U.S. marketing approval for its PowerLink system and launch the device used to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms. Meanwhile, Endologix said its operating loss in the fourth quarter was $1.6 million, versus $1.2 million a year earlier, on sales of $920,000 … San Clemente-based BioLase Technology Inc. said it boosted its sales force, added more space to its OC operations and named new distributors in Europe, South America, the Middle East and other areas. The dental laser maker recently completed a $52 million stock offering to help fund the expansion … Irvine-based Sun Healthcare Group Inc., which emerged from a three-year bankruptcy in 2002, started trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the “SUNH” symbol.
REAL ESTATE
Tokyo’s World Trade Center Building Inc. said it sold a pair of Irvine office buildings at 18201 and 18401 Von Karman Ave. to Glendale-based American Realty Advisors for $77 million. Together, the buildings have 330,000 square feet of space and are 90% full.
FINANCE
Mission Viejo resident Cole Bartiromo pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from an alleged scam that sought to defraud Wells Fargo & Co. of $400,000. Bartiromo, 19, paid more than $1.2 million to settle Internet fraud complaints stemming from a 2002 charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission over his “Invest Better 2001” operation.
GOVERNMENT
About 7,000 voters in Orange County were given the wrong election ballots by confused poll workers, according to the Los Angeles Times. Supervisor Bill Campbell called for an audit of the county’s electronic ballot system … Religious broadcaster Daystar Television Network said it would drop its suit seeking to block the Coast Community College District’s proposed sale of KOCE-TV Channel 50 to the KOCE Foundation in exchange for giving the PBS affiliate access to part of its digital signal if its bid is accepted. Daystar filed suit after its $40 million offer for the station was rebuffed in lieu of the foundation’s bid billed at $32 million. But the foundation bid could be worth just $12.5 million to $19.5 million over the 30-year, interest-free payment period. A vote on the KOCE Foundation bid is set for Wednesday … The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau said savings to the state’s workers’ comp system could be $7 billion this year, more than double the previous forecast … The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. said the city of Placentia owes about $5.1 million for improvements to the tracks running through the city … Supervisors approved a $4 million plan to add four more security checkpoints at John Wayne Airport to help ease congestion at the airport’s eight existing checks.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. and British partner AMEC PLC won a $500 million contract from the Department of Defense to help repair Iraq’s power grid. Fluor owns 51% of the Fluor-AMEC LLC venture … Irvine-based restaurant operator Prandium Inc. said it plans to sell its bankrupt Hamburger Hamlet chain to Los Angeles-based real estate investor Andrew Tavakoli for $10 million … Walt Disney Co. reopened its Big Thunder Mountain ride at Disneyland six months after closing it following a fatal accident.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Economic sentiment, with the California Consumer Sentiment Index at 99.7 in the first quarter, up from 96.8 in the fourth quarter, according to a survey by Chapman University’s A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research.
