TOP STORIES
Judge S. James Otero ruled the anti-El Toro airport Measure F invalid in its entirety, and OC Supervisor Cynthia Coad invited South County airport opponents to talks with county officials on the future of the former base … Broadcom Corp., Irvine, plans to acquire Israel-based VisionTech for $677 million; meanwhile, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter upgraded Broadcom to “strong buy” from “outperform” and the company’s stock rose 12% to 95 on the news (see related story on page 1) … KPC Medical Management Inc., Anaheim, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and a bankruptcy judge approved a $5 million HMO-funded plan to make good its final payroll and bring some workers back for three weeks to process medical records and pending test results … Cardiac Science Inc., Irvine, offered $143 million, or $15 per share, for Redmond, Wash.-based Spacelabs Medical Inc., a $2-per-share increase from an earlier offer rejected by Spacelabs; Cardiac Science also increased its stake in Spacelabs to 3.4% and nominated six candidates for Spacelab’s board.
TECHNOLOGY
Flashcom Inc., Huntington Beach, laid off 120 employees, about 23% of its workforce … FutureLink Corp., Irvine, received a $25 million line of credit from the Foothill Capital Corp. unit of Wells Fargo & Co., and said it expects to get a separate $5 million line for its U.K. operations … Dense-Pac Microsystems Inc., Garden Grove, sold its TypeHaus business to the unit’s management … Global TeleMedia International, Newport Beach, settled a debt and related lawsuit with WorldCom Inc. by agreeing to pay $3 million and give WorldCom warrants equal to about 3.2% of its common shares; Global TeleMedia also announced a 1-for-5 reverse stock split … Germany-based tire maker Continental AG has invested $15 million in three European units of Autobytel.com Inc., Irvine, and the companies will jointly develop an online tire-shopping site … Bridge Technology Inc., Garden Grove, sold 60% of its Pacific Bridge Net unit to Worldwide Wireless Networks Inc., Orange … Emergent Information Technologies Inc., Newport Beach, won a $1.2 million Air Force research-and-development contract … NetGuru Inc., Yorba Linda, sold 2.07 million common shares, about 15.4% of the company, and used the proceeds to repurchase all of its Series B convertible preferred shares … Verizon Wireless said it will eliminate some jobs in its paging unit and move others to its cell-phone division, which will affect up to 150 employees in the Anaheim office of its Verizon Wireless Messaging Services unit … Microsemi Corp., Santa Ana, promoted Jim Peterson to president and CEO, replacing Philip Frey Jr., who remains chairman; Peterson also was named a director (see related story on page 1) … EMachines Inc., Irvine, said it will introduce next year a line of notebook computers and a laptop with TV and digital music functions … Joseph Baia, a co-founder of Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. who also worked with Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. in the ’90s, died of a stroke at age 69.
HEALTHCARE
Endocare Inc., Irvine, received $20 million in a private placement … Goldman Sachs & Co. raised its share-price target for Bergen Brunswig Corp., Orange, and the company’s shares rose 5/8 to a 52-week high of 14 3/4 on the news … NeoTherapeutics Inc., Irvine, formed a cancer-therapy unit called NeoOncoRx and named former Bristol-Myers Squibb executive Dr. Luigi Lenaz to head it … Trimedyne Inc., Irvine, received FDA approval to market a laser system for treatment of damaged lumbar discs.
GOVERNMENT
Arthur Leahy, manager of Metro Transit in Minneapolis, was named CEO of the OC Transportation Authority, replacing Lisa Mills, who resigned in July; meanwhile, the OCTA approved $250 million to expand from six to 10 lanes the two-mile segment of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway between the Riverside (91) Freeway and the LA County line … OC officials met with the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and other federal officials at the White House, and urged them to move more quickly to transfer the former El Toro base to the county.
REAL ESTATE
Burnham U.S.A. Equities, Newport Beach, acquired two shopping centers in Fountain Valley and Sacramento from Excel Legacy, Salt Lake City, for $25 million.
FINANCE
Directors of Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, authorized the repurchase of an additional $1 million worth of shares; the firm has already in recent weeks bought back about 3% of its shares for about $1.95 million … First American Capital Management, a unit of Santa Ana-based First American Corp., named Roddy R. Ennico chairman, Mark A. Hoppe president and Robert S. Venable executive VP and CIO … The NASD expelled defunct Del Mar Financial Services, Irvine, fined it $10,000 and barred owner Kevin Conway Dill from associating with any NASD member in any capacity.
WHAT’S NEW
Shareholders of Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. approved its split into two publicly traded firms as of Dec. 21: Massey Energy Co., which will trade under the symbol MEE, and Fluor Corp., which will trade as FLR, both on the New York Stock Exchange … Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Anaheim, reported November sales rose 32% year-to-year with same-store sales up 5.1%, while two analysts raised their ratings of the firm to “buy”; the company’s shares rose 21% to 22 1/4 on the news … Diedrich Coffee Inc., Irvine, terminated a franchise agreement that called for development of 50 coffeehouses in the Northeast and said it is in talks with two of the company’s four remaining franchisees because they have not met their development schedules; meanwhile, Diedrich said it expects to be delisted by Nasdaq because its share price has fallen below 1, and on that news its shares fell 48% to 7/16 on 14 times its average daily volume (see related story on page 4) … International Bay Clubs Inc., Newport Beach, said it will spend $55 million to upgrade the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, which will get a new fitness center, clubhouse and 131-room luxury hotel … Hines Horticulture Inc., Irvine, received an additional $30 million line of credit from its banks and bondholders … Walt Disney Co. said Disneyland annual pass holders can buy annual passes to its soon-to-open California Adventure park for $60 to $100 … Knott’s Berry Farm will replace its Haunted Shack attraction with a bungee jump-like Skycoaster ride … Mazda North American Operations, Irvine, promoted marketing head Stephen T. Odell to COO … U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper acquitted Jeffrey Jhyfang Lo of Cypress of illegal-export and money-laundering charges, saying he had been coerced by a government undercover agent into trying to smuggle a sophisticated infrared camera to China.
