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Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Corp. is buying San Diego’s Biosite Inc. for $1.5 billion, its biggest deal since predecessor Beckman Instruments Inc. bought Florida’s Coulter Corp. a decade ago. Beckman Coulter is offering a 53% premium for Biosite, which makes tests to diagnose heart failure, as well as detect drug use and intestinal parasites. The company had $300 million in sales last year. Beckman makes instruments and chemicals for laboratories running tests for doctors as well as for drug and medical researchers. The deal is set to close in the second quarter, pending regulatory approval.
Shares of Aliso Viejo medical device maker SenoRx Inc. debuted last week, closing 12% above their twice-reduced asking price in the first day of trading. SenoRx sold 5.5 million shares at $8, raising about $45 million. The company has a market value of $130 million. SenoRx first was hoping to sell shares at $11 to $13, raising as much as $70 million. Then it cut its price range to $9 to $10 the night before and to $8 just before the company’s shares started traded.
Dwight Decker, chief executive of Conexant Systems Inc., plans to again retire from the Newport Beach-based chipmaker this fall, the company said. Decker, 57, will remain as non-executive chairman after a replacement is hired. Decker was chief executive of Conexant from its spinoff from Rockwell International in 1999 until he retired from the company when it acquired GlobespanVirata in 2004. Later in 2004, Decker returned to right the company after a difficult integration.
H & R; Block Inc. still is in talks to sell its Irvine-based subprime lending unit but didn’t get a deal down in March as earlier hoped because of the sector’s meltdown. “Recent events in the subprime industry” have delayed a deal, H & R; Block said. The company didn’t offer a new time frame for a possible deal for Irvine’s Option One Mortgage Corp., which H & R; Block is looking to sell for $1.3 billion.
Bankrupt mortgage lender People’s Choice Home Loan Inc. is looking to auction off subprime home loans it owns, the company said in court filings last week. The company said it hopes to resume operations but believes it should sell the loans now, according to the Associated Press. People’s Choice recently filed for bankruptcy protection. The company’s petition lists assets and liabilities both in excess of $100 million, and counts between 10,000 to 25,000 creditors. The company originated more than $5 billion in loans each of the past two years.
Shares of Irvine-based Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. rose Friday after the mortgage investor said its loans packaged as bonds found buyers in the first quarter. Impac said it completed two loan securitizations in the quarter for $2.2 billion. The packages included Alt-A mortgages,in between the best loans and riskier subprime loans,and $235 million of commercial and apartment building loans. Impac said it would end the quarter with $800 million of unsold loans, half of its year-end level, and about $130 million in cash.
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Inc., backed by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens, has upped the size of its pending public offering to $345 million from $287.5 million, according to an updated federal filing. Clean Energy, which provides natural gas for buses and other fleet vehicles, plans to stage an “OpenIPO” where the price and allocation of shares will be set in an auction done by the underwriters and other securities dealers. WR Hambrecht & Co. and Simmons & Co. are underwriters. The number of shares to be offered, an estimated price range or timetable weren’t disclosed in last week’s filing.
Foothill Ranch-based teen clothing retailer Wet Seal Inc. said it foresees higher same-store sales for March. The company, which runs mall stores, said it sees sales growth at stores open at least a year in “the high single digits.” For February, Wet Seal saw same-store growth of 5%. In the quarter ended Feb. 3, Wet Seal posted a $5.7 million loss, driven by one-time charges of $15 million. A year earlier, Wet Seal lost $2.9 million. Revenue was up 18% to $166.4 million. For the current quarter, Wet Seal said it expects sales of $139 million to $141 million. Profits could come in at $3 million to $6 million. Analysts on average had expected $7.9 million in profit on sales of $137.5 million.
Aliso Viejo shoe company American Sporting Goods Corp. hired a chief executive, prompting it to drop a bid to sell the company. Tom O’Riordan, former chief executive at Fila, has taken the job at American Sporting Goods. O’Riordan is a 30-year shoe industry veteran, including jobs at Nike and Adidas. Last year, American Sporting Goods’ principal owner, Jerry Turner, 71, put the company up for sale, saying he was ready to retire. Turner said that after landing O’Riordan, the potential sale and retirement are both off the table.
