EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Viking’s Rancho Santa Margarita facility: company bought by Sanmina-SCI
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
The revamped board of Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. said because of market conditions it would reconsider spinoff plans for the drug maker, including postponing the spinoff of its international unit and the proposed distribution of its 80% stake of Ribapharm Inc. to shareholders; meanwhile, ICN confirmed that Robert O’Leary, a former chief executive at health insurer PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., Santa Ana, would be interim chairman and chief executive Rancho Santa Margarita-based computer memory products maker Viking Components Inc. is being bought by San Jose-based Sanmina-SCI Corp. and is slated to be folded into a newly created Modular Solutions division.
TECHNOLOGY
Germantown, Md.-based Acterna Corp. said it would sell its Tustin-based Airshow unit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Rockwell Collins Inc. for $160 million Standard & Poor’s said Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. is set to be replaced by Simon Property Group on the S & P; 500 Index; meanwhile, the Internal Revenue System said Conexant’s spinoff of its wireless unit is tax free to shareholders; the new company being formed from Conexant’s unit and Woburn, Mass.-based Alpha Industries Inc. is called Skyworks Solutions Inc. Intel Corp. sold $1.4 million of Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. stock it acquired when Broadcom bought Serverworks Corp.; Intel said it plans to sell additional shares valued at $3.3 million Framingham, Mass.-based Bose Corp. won a case blocking Costa Mesa-based QSC Audio Products Inc. from naming its power amplifier system “PowerWave”; Bose sells radios under the Wave and Acoustic Wave names Boeing Co.’s Seal Beach Space and Communications unit picked eight defense subcontractors to work with it on the Army’s Future Combat Systems program, which could grow into a $5 billion project Irvine-based 3DSP Corp. said it hired Didier Boivin as chief executive to replace Tom Beaver, who left to “pursue other interests” Irvine-based Printronix Inc. replaced Arthur Andersen as its auditor with Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
HEALTHCARE
Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., the biggest hospital operator in OC, said it would pay $55.8 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of inflated billing for Medicare and Medicaid patients Orange-based Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. said it would take a $8.4 million charge in the third quarter for finance fees, refinancing and interest rate swaps; Sybron also said its plan for expanding its Hawe Neos facility in Switzerland, a key component of the company’s tax reduction strategy, is “a little behind schedule.”
GOVERNMENT
Three pro-airport groups filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of botching the environmental impact report at the former El Toro Marine base; anti-airport foes say the suit, which seeks to prevent the Navy from selling the base until the environmental study is done again, is without merit Laguna Beach scrapped plans for an $8.6 million flood-prevention project, which was challenged by merchants and environmentalists An environmental group began a petition drive to force a vote on Irvine’s Northern Sphere plan; Irvine officials said the move could be a ploy by pro-El Toro Marine base airport supporters to prevent any development beside the base.
REAL ESTATE
Marriott International Inc. sold its majority interest in the Laguna Beach Colony Hotel to Laguna Beach Resorts LLC, a partnership between Montage Hotels & Resorts, developer The Athens Group and private, unnamed investors; the hotel, which is under construction, will be renamed the Montage at The Laguna Beach Colony; the principal partner is Alan J. Fuerstman, former vice president of hotel operations at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, who formed Montage in 2000.
FINANCE
Santa Ana-based The First American Corp. said it has closed on its deal to buy Fort Myers, Fla.-based Guardian Title Services Inc.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Santa Ana-based Newport Brass Inc. was bought by Taylor, Mich.-based Masco Corp. as part of a $220 million cash and stock deal in which Masco also bought four UK home improvement companies Kester Solder, a unit of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., said it will close its 24-worker Anaheim plant this summer and move the work to Kester’s facility in Des Plaines, Ill … Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said it won an engineering and construction contract for a $34 million facility expansion for BBA Group PLC’s nonwoven fabric unit in Bethune, S.C.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Median home prices in OC, up 16.5% in May to $346,000 vs. a year earlier, with the number of homes sold in May jumping 29.6% to 5,091, the strongest May since 1988 when statistics became available.
Mixed: OC jobs picture in May, with nonfarm jobs at 1,429,800, up 0.6% from a year earlier, but unemployment at 3.6%, up 1% vs. a year ago.
Mixed: Chapman University’s economic forecast update, which calls for 2002 job growth of 1.5%, down from 2.1% last year, with home price appreciation of 7.9%, down from 12%.
