Compiled by Mike Mason
Regulators approved Irvine-based Allergan Inc.’s $3.2 billion buy of Santa Barbara’s Inamed Corp. after Allergan and Inamed agreed to sell Inamed’s rights to Reloxin, a potential competitor to Allergan’s flagship Botox. Allergan and Inamed have reached a pact with European drug maker Ispen Ltd. to take back rights to Reloxin. Final approval from the Federal Trade Commission is expected after a 30-day comment period. Meanwhile, Allergan and Fort Worth, Texas-based Alcon Inc. said they’re settling two patent fights over eye drugs. Allergan, which filed both lawsuits, prevailed in one while another was dropped.
Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. said it’s seeing stable demand. The world’s biggest computer products distributor reaffirmed its first-quarter guidance for net income of $54 million to $59 million, which includes a charge of about $8 million for stock-based compensation, and sales of $7.3 billion to $7.5 billion in the quarter, versus $7.45 billion a year earlier Shares of Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. slumped after an analyst downgraded the stock on fears a price war will hurt profits Irvine-based Gateway Inc. has its work cut out building direct sales of computers to consumers and businesses, according to the company’s interim chief executive Rick Snyder. He said the computer maker hasn’t begun a search for a permanent chief executive. The board could consider Snyder as the company’s permanent chief, he said The city of Anaheim OK’d a plan by AT & T; Corp. to build a network that would let it offer TV service to homes over a high-speed Internet connection Irvine-based Interchange Corp., which links advertisers to searches on the Internet, said it hired investment bank Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. as it considers a possible sale of its national search business. A sale would leave struggling Interchange to focus on linking advertisers to searches done by people looking for products and services in their own areas Thomas Hemingway, Richard Hutt and Robert Way, former executives at defunct eSynch Corp. in Irvine, were sued by the Department of Labor, which alleges they fraudulently used employee 401(k) contributions.
Costa Mesa-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International agreed to resolve a long-running dispute with the Health Fund of Serbia and the Republic of Serbia over their joint venture, Galenika. The drug maker said it collected $28 million of a total $34 million owed to it. Valeant expects the balance to be paid next year. Meanwhile, Valeant said actress Courteney Cox agreed to a one-year extension of her promotion pact for the company’s Kinerase skin care products … Dental laser maker BioLase Technology Inc. opened an Asia Pacific headquarters in Australia and another office in New Zealand. The units will provide sales and service operations.
Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. said it made $4 billion in mortgage loans in February. The result was in line with January and down nearly 25% compared to late 2005,a normal seasonal drop-off, according to the company. New Century reported $3.4 billion in production from historical operations in February. It recorded $600 million in production from recently acquired operations, including RBC Mortgage Co.
Southwest Airlines said it plans to add daily flights from John Wayne Airport to Chicago and Las Vegas, while Aloha Airlines is adding a six-day-a-week route to Sacramento from the airport.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. met Wall Street’s profit expectations for the quarter ended Jan. 31. But the company lowered its outlook for the current quarter based on what it called “improved visibility” on recently acquired Skis Rossignol SA and “a challenging environment” in Asia. The results are the second full quarter with Rossignol in the fold. Quiksilver bought France’s Rossignol in July for about $320 million Foothill Ranch-based sunglasses maker Oakley Inc. plans to restate results for the past five years and reduced its guidance for 2006 after changing the way it accounts for hedging against currency exchange rates. The company now expects 2006 profits of $47 million, versus an earlier view of $50 million Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. named Michael Zimmerman and Jonathan Duskin to its board. Zimmerman is controlling principal and Duskin is a managing director at New York-based Prentice Capital Management LP, which has a stake in the teen retailer Newport Beach-based Makar Properties LLC said it bought the 238-room Wyndham Orange County Airport for an undisclosed amount Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. won a $19.5 million add-on to an existing contract with the Army to make radio transmitters with position locators at its Fullerton plant Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. said an agency in Georgia will continue evaluating for accreditation several campuses of the company’s Georgia Medical Institute. The agency said in December that it wouldn’t accredit the schools, a decision Corinthian challenged. The institute’s accreditation was extended to May 31 while the board continues its investigation.
