TOP STORY
Miami-based Lennar Corp. won two of the four parcels up for bid at the former El Toro Marine base. Lennar is set to pay $185 million for 1,104 acres for which it was the only bidder. Meanwhile, Lennar was among bidders on two other parcels that have a total of 2,615 acres. Those auctions were set to continue until today at the earliest. A total of $420 million had been bid on those two parcels as of late last week.
SLUG: execsum
Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. named William J. Weyand as chief executive and chairman. Weyand replaces Frank Perna, who is retiring. Meanwhile, MSC said its shares will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of an ongoing review of its past financial accounting procedures. The company said its shares will be suspended March 11 and then likely will trade on the Pink Sheets. The company said it’s unable to meet an exchange deadline to file its 2003 annual report … Ron Buschur, chief operating officer of Santa Ana’s Powerwave Technologies Inc. since 2001, was named chief executive. Buschur replaces Bruce Edwards, who becomes executive chairman … Laguna Hills-based Interchange Corp. said it plans to buy Sweden’s Inspire Infrastructure 2i AB for up to $22.5 million in cash and stock. Interchange, which offers paid Internet search services, said Inspire shareholders will receive $15 million in cash plus up to $7.5 million in stock depending on performance during the next two years. The deal is set to close in the first quarter … Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. sold $19.6 million in stock. Acacia sold 3.5 million shares at $5.6 each to unnamed institutional investors and funds affiliated with Apex Capital LLC … Irvine-based game maker Blizzard Entertainment Corp. said it laid off 10 workers in a move to streamline its production operations. Blizzard, which has 450 workers, is a unit of France’s Vivendi Universal SA.
Fullerton’s Beckman Coulter Inc., a maker of medical testing gear for labs and researchers, named Betty Woods, an 11-year veteran of the company’s board, as non-executive chairman. Woods replaces retiring executive chairman John P. Wareham. Earlier this year, Wareham handed over the chief executive title to Scott Garrett, effective Feb. 21 … Brea Community Hospital said the federal Labor Department is investigating its 401(k) program to see if the hospital properly managed payments to the employee funds … Irvine-based Allergan Inc. was dealt a minor disappointment when regulators rejected another drug maker’s application for a chronic dry eye disease treatment. The Food and Drug Administration said Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s diquafosol treatment failed to show statistically significant improvement as compared to placebo in testing. Allergan saw diquafosol as a possible complement to its Restasis drug.
Irvine-based Commercial Capital Bancorp said it plans to buy Timcor Exchange Corp. for $29.4 million in stock. The acquisition doesn’t need the approval of shareholders or regulators and is set to close by the end of February, Commercial Capital said. Los Angeles-based Timcor puts together tax-deferred real estate exchanges using Section 1031 of the tax code. The company was founded in 1977 and said it’s seen 29% growth in annual deal volume in the past decade.
Wells Fargo & Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC said they opened The Trade Bank in Irvine, a venture that helps importers and exporters with foreign banking.
An Orange County Transportation Authority advisory board voted to nix plans for the 9.3-mile CenterLine light-rail system that would have connected the Santa Ana Transportation Center to John Wayne Airport. The panel said there was too little interest in the project to pursue public funding. A full vote of the transportation authority on the $1 billion proposal is set for today. Meanwhile, the Federal Transit Administration downgraded the status of CenterLine to “not rated” from “recommended” … Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido was one of four members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System that Gov. Schwarz-enegger dismissed. Pulido and the others oppose the governor’s plan to privatize teachers’ pension system.
Struggling teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. faces an informal Securities and Exchange inquiry into its second-quarter results from 2004. Regulators have requested documents related to the 2004 sale of Wet Seal stock by Canadian lingerie retailer La Senza Corp. Montreal-based La Senza’s chairman and chief executive, Irv Teitelbaum, stepped down as Wet Seal’s longtime chairman in August to focus on expanding La Senza … Anaheim-based New Horizons Worldwide Inc. said private equity investor Camden Partners Holdings LLC has bought a 13% stake in the company. New Horizons, an operator of for-profit schools, sold $6 million of preferred shares in the company to funds managed by Baltimore-based Camden Partners.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County’s housing picture in January, with the median price of homes sold up 19% to $534,000 versus a year earlier, but the number of homes sold down 5% to 2,903, according to DataQuick Information Services.
Mixed: Housing affordability in OC in December, with 13% of households able to afford a median-priced home, unchanged versus November but down from 18% a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors.
