TOP STORIES
Irvine-based subprime lender First Alliance Corp., citing lawsuits and pending legislation to cap loan fees, filed for bankruptcy and said it will liquidate its assets; it laid off 325 employees, including 250 in Irvine; trading of the firm’s shares was halted … EMachines Inc., Irvine, raised $180 million in an IPO that imputed an initial value of $1.3 billion to the firm; Bill Gross and his idealab! together hold about 24% of the shares … Varco International Inc., Orange, said it will merge with Tuboscope Inc., Houston, in an $834 million stock deal; the new firm will retain Varco’s name; Varco chairman and CEO George Boyadjieff will retain those titles and Tuboscope’s president/COO and CFO will keep their positions; the companies said “minimal” layoffs are expected … Fidelity National Financial Inc., Irvine, completed its $1.1 billion acquisition of Chicago Title Co. and said it will shed 1,500 jobs nationwide as it consolidates … Koll executives Richard Ortwein and Victor Laidlaw resigned to start their own firm; Gerald Yahr was named to replace Ortwein and Donald Dreusike was named to replace Laidlaw (story, page 1) … DDi Corp., Anaheim, said it will acquire U.K.-based MCM Electronics Ltd. for $86 million; the company also was expected to issue an IPO this week raising about $180 million … Ogden Corp. said it expects to name a buyer soon for its OC operations at Arrowhead Pond, Edison International Field and the Sun Theatre.
FINANCIAL
Broadcom Corp., Irvine, said it will ask shareholders to approve a doubling of the authorized shares … BNC Mortgage Inc., Irvine, secured $150 million loan deal through through Paine Webber Real Estate Securities Inc. … Oakley Inc., Foothill Ranch, said it will post better-than-expected first-quarter earnings … Pequot Capital Management Inc., Westport, Conn., reduced its stake in Irvine-based STM Wireless Inc. from 8.1% to just less than 6% … Impac Secured Assets Corp., Santa Ana Heights, filed to sell $1 billion in pass-through certificates and mortgage-backed notes … Odetics Inc., Anaheim, postponed the spin-off of its Iteris Inc. unit, citing market volatility … TouchVision Inc., Seal Beach, received a commitment for $9 million in venture funding from Worldwide Intermusic Capital Group.
GOVERNMENT
OC supervisors voted 3-2 to ask a judge to halt implementation of the anti-El Toro airport Measure F while it is being litigated; a state appellate court ordered OC to pay $450,000 in attorney’s fees and interest to two anti-El Toro airport groups that challenged the county’s 1996 EIR; Cabaco asked the supervisors to clarify whether they intend to renew the company’s contract to run operations at the base after June 30; the Tustin Council voted unanimously to withdraw from the pro-airport OC Regional Airport Authority; the Navy has signaled that Tustin’s plan to build homes and a golf course on the closed Tustin air base may not qualify for a free land transfer (see Comment, page 78) … County officials proposed to spend $8 million of OC’s more than $30 million annual payment from the national tobacco settlement on preventive-care programs and community clinics, which would restore those programs to pre-bankruptcy funding levels … A survey by Cal State Fullerton and the OC Business Council found a majority of OC residents willing to pay increased taxes for coastal cleanup, sewage treatment and roads, but not graffiti control or public transit.
DEALS
New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing Inc. leased 51,000 square feet of office space in Buena Park to consolidate operations and 250 employees now in La Palma and Arcadia … The British unit of Printrak International Inc., Anaheim, acquired the computer-aided dispatch division of BAE Systems … Eldorado Bancshares Inc., Laguna Hills, said it will transfer its Sacramento-based wholesale mortgage unit to American Sterling Bank, Irvine … Gretag Imaging Holding AG acquired Anagraph, Costa Mesa, for $3 million.
PERSONNEL
UCI Medical Center director Mark Laret resigned effective next month to become CEO of UC San Francisco Medical Center … ColorMax Technologies Inc., Tustin, named director Robert S. Iger to the new post of CEO … Elizabeth A. Fetter, CEO of NorthPoint Communications, joined the board of Irvine-based Datum Inc. …Jack A. Carr was named CEO of Uniloc PC Preload Inc., Huntington Beach.
CONTRACTS
Diedrich Coffee Inc., Irvine, signed a franchise agreement with M & P; Coffee Ltd. to open 17 coffeehouses and an undetermined number of kiosks in Nevada … ColorMax Technologies Inc., Tustin, acquired the patents for the X-Chrom Lens for colorblindness … Procom Technology, Santa Ana, signed a Canadian distribution agreement with Axidata … The TriZetto Group, Newport Beach, received a contract to provide healthcare applications over the Internet to AlohaCare, a Hawaii-based HMO.
WHAT’S NEW
Boeing Corp. formed a commercial communications unit based in Anaheim and reporting to the Space and Communications Group in Seal Beach … SafeGuard Health Enterprises Inc., Aliso Viejo, said it will lay off 50 employees in Texas and Florida … Techniclone Corp., Tustin, said its development of a treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma will be delayed six to eight months … Irvine-based InVitro International’s synthetic skin test was jointly approved by several U.S. agencies to replace live rabbits in safety testing of chemicals … Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Anaheim, said it will offer a credit card beginning in July.
LITIGATION, INVESTIGATIONS
David C. Erickson of the now-defunct Irvine-based Face to Face Financial Inc., and three others agreed to suspensions of up to three years to settle SEC charges they defrauded investors of $4.3 million; a criminal investigation continues … U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John E. Ryan granted an investor group’s emergency request to place Irvine-based DFJ Italia in Chapter 7 and appoint a trustee for the firm, accused of being a Ponzi scheme … The FBI was investigating allegations of credit-card fraud by Enterprise Callcenters, Yorba Linda; the government froze the assets of the firm, which denied wrongdoing.
IN CONCLUSION
A business plan for an Internet firm dubbed MyDrugRep.com by its UCI B-school-student creators won a national contest and $5 million in startup funding from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners … Six people were injured by a construction blast at the Irvine Co.’s Newport Ridge housing development … A small explosion damaged a chemistry lab at Cal State Fullerton … Msgr. Jaime Soto was named auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange Cox Communications said it will refund $5 million to South OC customers because of a property-tax assessment that Cox got reduced.
