Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. is paying $192.8 million in cash for the digital TV chip business of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The deal stands to expand Broadcom’s business providing chips to makers of digital TVs. The business includes processors that handle digital signals in TVs, receiver chips that pick up broadcast signals and others that control how a picture is displayed. Customers include Sony Corp. and Samsung Group. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Broadcom said it could see an undetermined charge for research and development expenses related to the acquisition.
Aliso Viejo-based Valeant Pharmaceu-ticals International struck a deal with GlaxoSmithKline PLC that gives the British drug maker worldwide rights to retigabine, an epilepsy drug. The deal could be worth up to $820 million. Valeant said it would get an upfront payment of $125 million. Glaxo also will pay Valeant up to $545 million if regulatory, development and commercialization milestones are met and if retigabine is approved for other conditions.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. has struck a deal to sell its Rossignol unit for $147 million to a former chief executive of the struggling French ski maker. Led by former Rossignol chief executive Bruno Cercley, Chartreuse & Mont Blanc plans to buy the business in a deal that’s 75% cash and 25% debt. Chartreuse & Mont Blanc is majority owned by Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd. and includes minority investor Jarden Corp., a Rye, N.Y., maker of outdoor products. The deal is expected to close in the fall.
TECHNOLOGY
In other Broadcom news: an analyst downgraded shares of the chipmaker on concerns the company is set to see slower sales growth in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Allan Mishan downgraded Broadcom to “perform” from “outperform” and got rid of his price target on the stock Federal prosecutors sued cofounder and former chief executive Henry T. Nicholas III to seize one of his Newport Coast mansions and a Las Vegas penthouse they say he used for parties and business where cocaine, ecstasy, laughing gas and other drugs were distributed A Santa Ana judge found that San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc. violated an earlier ruling by continuing to sell cell phone chips that Broadcom had patented and by failing to pay royalties on time. Judge James Selna ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom the profits it’s earned on some of the chips and to pay Broadcom’s legal fees in the case.
Anaheim-based Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc., a maker of flexible circuit boards, said it is set to lease a factory in Malaysia and buy manufacturing gear for about $1 million. The company said it plans to transfer a small part of its operations making circuit boards that go into devices for the medical and industrial equipment to Malaysia from Anaheim and Suzhou, China. A spokesman for M-Flex said the company doesn’t anticipate job cuts locally as a result of the move.
HEALTHCARE
Terumo Cardiovascular Systems, a medical device maker, is moving its research and development and manufacturing from Tustin to Ann Arbor, Mich. The company, part of Japan’s Terumo Corp., said it plans to bring 65 jobs and $3.5 million in investment to its Ann Arbor operation under an incentive program by the Michigan Economic Develop-ment Corp. It wasn’t immediately clear how many jobs in Tustin would be impacted.
MiCardia Corp., an Irvine-based medical device maker, said it has raised $5 million from insiders in a bridge round of financing with an eye on a larger third-series round next year amid “a tough fundraising environment.”
REAL ESTATE
Fueled by falling home prices, buyers pushed up July sales 17% from a year earlier, ending a 33-month home buying slump, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems. July sales were 2,799 houses and condominiums. The last time OC home sales exceeded year-ago totals was in September 2005. The bargain hunting sent the median price in July to $461,000,down 28% in a year and the lowest since 2004.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. is looking to invest as much as $5 billion in mortgage bonds with a new fund, according to Bloomberg. The Distressed Senior Credit Opportunities Fund will buy bonds backed by commercial and home mortgages, an unidentified source told Bloomberg. The fund was set up to specifically go after investments that have sunk in value since the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
OTHER NEWS
Shares of Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. sunk after the vocational school operator forecast a profit for the current quarter that was below what Wall Street had expected. The company said it sees a profit of $5.2 million to $6.9 million for the three months through September. Analysts had been expecting a profit of $6.9 million to $8.6 million. Revenue for the quarter could come in at $285 million to $290 million, ahead of Wall Street’s expected $283 million.
Promax Nutrition Corp., a Newport Beach maker of protein bars, acquired Pure of Holland LLC, which makes vegan nutrition bars. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
