EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
The Navy officially turned over 977 acres of the former Tustin Marine base to the city, which plans to sell off most of the base to developers for homes, offices and a golf course; Tustin also agreed to transfer 22 acres of the 1,600-acre former base to Santa Ana Unified School District for an elementary school; An extra 185 acres is set to go to Tustin by 2008 after they are cleaned of toxic wastes Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. hired Korn/Ferry International to help find a chief executive to replace Milan Panic, who set up a committee to recommend a transition plan but hasn’t said when he’ll step down.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. said it didn’t announce the departure of four executives of acquired companies because none “were material to the company”; the chipmaker said the exits were amicable Auditors for Irvine-based Lantronix Inc. are reviewing results after it fired Steven V. Cotton, its chief financial officer and chief operating officer; the review will delay Lantronix’s federal filing for the March quarter and could cause it to amend past results; meanwhile, Los Angeles law firm Weiss & Yourman filed a class action lawsuit against Lantronix Irvine-based D-Link Systems Inc. will use chips from Texas Instruments Inc. for most of its wireless products; D-Link had been buying chips from Irvine-based Intersil Corp., which it still will count on for some chips Irvine-based Autobytel Inc. said it would cut 40 workers and take a $500,000 charge for the layoffs Ricoh Electronics Inc. cut 40 workers from its Tustin operations Santa Ana-based SRS Labs Inc. said it will buy up to a half-million shares of its stock because it thinks its shares, recently at 2.65, are undervalued Irvine-based Newport Corp. completed the sale of its measurement business to Sweden’s Hexagon AB.
HEALTHCARE
ICN Pharmaceu-ticals Inc. paid $47.8 million in bonuses to directors, officers and workers in April in connection with the spinoff of Ribapharm Inc. The union representing nurses at University of Cali-fornia hospitals voted to stage a one-day strike May 29; the contract for the system’s 8,000 nurses expired April 30 and the union said it still hoped to avert a strike if bargaining moves forward Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said it will spin off its optical device unit, Advanced Medical Optics Inc., on June 29 now that regulators have approved certain aspects of the deal … Relational Investors LLC registered to sell 1.2 million shares of Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. in a transaction worth $29.6 million; Relational has three directors on Apria’s board, including Chairman Ralph Whitworth Irvine-based Nexell Therapeu-tics Inc.’s board authorized shutting down of operations and laying off all but three of the company’s 23 workers after the company failed to raise capital to keep it running past June.
GOVERNMENT
Public TV station KOCE said it is seeking a buyer or merger to provide enough cash for additional programming and to make the conversion to digital broadcasting OC Board of Supervisors Chair-woman Cynthia Coad gave Irvine three more weeks to come up with a plan to give North County parks $800,000 a year for 100 years from money generated from development at the former El Toro Marine base; Coad has threatened to reverse her vote last month allowing Irvine to annex the base if the city doesn’t come up with the funds Placentia city officials have asked the Orange County Transportation Authority for $9.2 million for better railroad crossing barriers and track signals for the city in the wake of May’s Metrolink accident Laguna Beach approved the first phase of a proposed $6.8 million makeover for the Festival of the Arts and moved the festival closer to signing a long-term lease to keep the festival in the city.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. said it bought Orlando-based Colony Homes for $26 million in cash and stock Tustin officials said they would select builders for 480 homes on 23 acres of the former Tustin Marine base by the end of the year; finalists include Greystone Homes, a unit of Miami-based Lennar Corp., John Laing Homes, a unit of Newport Beach-based WL Homes LLC, Irvine-based Standard Pacific and Walnut-based Shea Homes The Irvine Company handed over 2,100 acres in Bommer and Shady canyons to Irvine as part of its Turtle Ridge development obligation; about 2,100 homes will be built in Turtle Ridge in the next five to seven years.
FINANCE
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to buy Orange-based Franklin Bank of California, which has a single branch on Chapman Avenue and about $2.4 million in assets; terms were not disclosed and the deal must still be approved by regulators; Wal-Mart hopes to use the bank to handle payments at its stores.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Bankrupt Prandium Inc., Irvine, said it will sell its 14-restaurant Hamburger Hamlet chain to Los Angeles-based Latin Intellectual Properties Inc. for $15 million An arbitrator said Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. was negligent in certain aspects of its construction of the Refugio gold mine in Chile, and has awarded Compania Minera Maricunga $20 million plus interest; Fluor said it would contest the decision Corona del Mar resident Steven Hevell, 38, was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay restitution after being convicted of using a Ponzi scheme to defraud 350 people out of about $8.7 million La Habra-based chain Howard’s Appliances Inc. agreed to pay $15,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the seven-store chain of recording the addresses and phone numbers of its credit-card customers, putting them at risk for identity fraud Louisville-based Tricon Global Restaurants, parent of Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., has changed its name to Yum! Brands Inc Spartanburg, S.C.-based Advantica Restaurant Group Inc. hired Jeff Campbell to replace David Devoy as chief executive and president of its Irvine-based restaurants, Coco’s and Carrows; Advantica, which also owns Denny’s, has been trying to sell Coco’s and Carrows to help it emerge from bankruptcy.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: OC job picture in April, with nonfarm jobs at 1,426,700, up 0.8% vs. a year earlier, but unemployment at 3.7%, up 1.1% from a year ago.
Up: OC housing market in April, with the median home price rising 1.5% from March to $337,000, and up 16.2% from a year earlier, while the number of homes sold rose 1.9% from March to 4,925 and 31.7% vs. last April.
