Compiled by Mike Mason
Irvine-based Gateway Inc. agreed to pay $47 million to settle its two-year patent dispute with Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Co. The companies will cross-license each other’s patents for seven years as part of the deal. Gateway has attributed $16.7 million of the award to settle allegations of past infringement in connection with PCs made from 1999 on. The remaining $30.3 million will be paid over the seven-year life of the license Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. said it’s on track to meet sales and profit expectations for the quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The disk drive maker said new products are making up for seasonal downturns … Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. said it completed its $77 million buy of Andover, Mass.-based Sandburst Corp.
Aliso Viejo-based medical device maker MicroVention Inc. said it’s being bought by Japan’s Terumo Corp. for an undisclosed amount of cash. The buy is set to wrap up by the end of this month. MicroVention makes minimally invasive, catheter-based devices to treat cerebral aneurysms. The company, which has federal approval for its products, has raised about $53 million in venture funding Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said it plans to build a heart valve plant in Changi North, Singapore. The Irvine-based device maker said that the 98,000-square-foot plant is expected to be completed by fall 2007 Tustin-based Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. said its anti-viral compound Tarvacin was safe and well-tolerated by chronic hepatitis C virus-infected patients in a first-phase trial.
Santa Ana’s First American Corp. is among several big title insurers being investigated by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer and the New York State Insurance Department are looking into whether the title companies paid rebates to favored customers and referral fees to agents. Other companies being investigated include Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Financial Inc., Richmond, Va.-based LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. and Houston-based Stewart Title Co. Irvine-based ECC Capital Corp., parent company of mortgage financier Encore Credit, said it won’t pay a first-quarter dividend in another sign of shrinking profits for subprime mortgage lenders. The company’s shares were off nearly 30% on the news. ECC, which raised $354 million in the county’s largest initial public offering of 2005, now counts a market value of about $135 million Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. said that its new-home orders are down 13% to 1,431 through February this year. The homebuilder said it’s seeing lower demand in some markets “from the unsustainable pace of the past few years.”
Irvine-based Autobytel Inc. named a new chief executive and said it will not continue pursuing a sale of the company. James Riesenbach, a former senior vice president at Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit is set to become president and chief executive on March 20. Riesenbach worked in AOL’s search and directional media group. Rick Post, current president and chief executive since, is set to continue as a director on the board Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. said it won a $43 million order for its lightweight ceramic body armor. The order is under the company’s $461 million contract signed with the military in 2004. The latest order was from Army Unique Missions Division in Maryland … Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said it started demolition work on a $44 million project at Danish plastics producer Borealis AS. Fluor is building a new production plant for Borealis in Sweden. The plant is set to open next year. Meanwhile, shares of Fluor slumped after the company gave 2006 financial guidance that fell short of expectations Anaheim-based retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reported solid profit and sales gains for the quarter ended Jan. 28 but said it is “cautious” about the current quarter. For the four weeks ended Feb. 25, sales at stores open at least a year were off 3.1% Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said its same-store sales rose 29% in February, the 14th consecutive month of gains for the rebounding teen retailer J.C. Penney Co. said it plans to open a store in early 2007 at Westfield Mainplace mall in Santa Ana.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County’s housing picture in January, with the median price for a detached home at $699,060, down 0.5% from December but up 10% from a year earlier, the California Association of Realtors said. Sales of detached homes fell by 18% in January from December. They were off 24% from a year earlier.
