Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
TriZetto Group Inc., a Newport Beach-based medical information technology company, said it’s being bought for $1.4 billion by Apax Partners Inc., a New York-based private equity investor. Shareholders of TriZetto are set to get $22 for each share of common stock, a 25% premium from where the stock closed before the offer. A pair of TriZetto customers, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and the Regence Group, a Portland, Ore.-based health plan, are providing funding for the deal and will be investors. TriZetto’s board has approved the deal, which could close in four to six months.
TECHNOLOGY
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. hired a chief financial officer from Newport Beach chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies Inc. QLogic had been looking to replace longtime chief financial officer Tony Massetti, who stepped down a few months ago. Simon Biddiscombe, 40, is set to join the company at the end of the month.
HEALTHCARE
Ev3 Inc., a medical device maker with some 400 workers in Irvine, said its chief executive is being replaced by a local industry veteran. James Corbett stepped down as chief executive, president and chairman. Robert Palmisano, former chief executive of Irvine-based IntraLase Corp., is Corbett’s replacement as chief executive.
Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Buffalo, N.Y., for documents about its flagship Xibrom drug. Irvine-based Ista said prosecutors were asking for documents covering promotional, educational and other activities relating to Xibrom, which accounts for more than 70% of Ista’s $60 million in yearly revenue. Ista said it would cooperate.
Anaheim-based Alliance Imaging Inc. bought six radiation surgery centers in California and four other states from Accuray Inc., a Sunnyvale device maker. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The surgery center acquisitions are part of a diversification into cancer treatment by Alliance.
Vitalife Inc., an Irvine maker of nutritional supplements, will pay $1 million in civil penalties after settling a consumer protection lawsuit for false advertising and failing to include proper warning labels. The company will provide refunds to those who bought nutritional supplements and cosmetic products online.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine and Maguire Properties Inc. reached a settlement over the company’s Park Place project near John Wayne Airport, with the developer paying $9.8 million in fees to the city. The disagreement began with prior owner Crow Winthrop Development LP over affordable-housing requirements and guidelines for minor development changes. The city and Maguire agreed that the developer will pay $9.8 million if the project is completely built. The money is to be used for affordable housing or Irvine Business Complex improvements.
APPAREL
St. John Knits International Inc., the luxury women’s clothing maker based in Irvine, is laying off 240 workers in San Diego by May 19. The layoffs are a result of a factory closure in San Ysidro. Workers will get 60 days salary and severance packages based on seniority, according to St. John. The company said it’s moving work from San Ysidro to Irvine, adding 50 to 80 jobs locally.
Quiksilver Inc. will lay off 155 workers in Huntington Beach by May 23, according to California’s Employment Development Department. This is in addition to previously reported layoffs of 115 by Aug. 1 for a total of 270 job cuts in Huntington Beach.
Orange County’s two major mall retailers, Anaheim’s Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc., saw drops in March same-store sales that went beyond Wall Street expectations. Pacific Sunwear, which is restructuring, saw sales at stores open at least a year fall 8% last month. Analysts had expected a 1.7% drop. Wet Seal saw March same-store sales fall 10.8%, steeper than the 7.5% decline expected.
GOVERNMENT
The Orange County Transportation Authority will tap into Measure M funds for the $39.3 million it agreed to pay a contractor that claimed tens of millions for unexpected costs on the Garden Grove (22) Freeway widening. Contractor Granite-Myers-Rados, a venture of Watsonville-based Granite Construction Inc., Rancho Cordova-based C. C. Myers and Steve P. Rados Inc., of Santa Ana, initially sought $93 million to cover the cost of additional work that included excavating bad soil under the freeway.
OTHER NEWS
Irvine-based Entrepreneur Media Inc., publisher of Entrepreneur magazine, is reported to be up for sale for around $200 million. A first round of bids on the company is in, according to a report on Santa Monica-based ContentNext Media Inc.’s PaidContent.org Web site. Bidders could include Time Warner Inc., Yahoo Inc., R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. and Dun & Bradstreet Corp.
San Juan Capistrano-based American Mold Guard Inc. is calling it quits after going public a year and a half ago. The homebuilding downturn has hurt the company’s business of treating new homes to prevent mold and water damage, the company said. All of its offices have closed and its remaining employees have been laid off.
