Compiled by Mike Mason
Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. said it plans to buy San Jose networking company Aarohi Communications Inc. for $39 million plus assumed debt, stock options and other compensation charges. Aarohi has about 70 employees, primarily engineers based in San Jose and Bangalore, India Irvine-based Solarflare Communications Inc., which has raised about $80 million in venture funds since its first funding in 2001, said it signed a deal to acquire Sunnyvale-based Level 5 Networks Inc. The combined companies have $50 million in cash. No other financial details were released. Solarflare Chief Executive Russell Stern will head the combined company, which will be based in Irvine. Level 5 will keep development centers in Sunnyvale and in its Cambridge, England, offices Irvine-based chipmaker Broadcom Corp. said its adjusted net income nearly tripled to $222 million in the first quarter, versus a year earlier, on sales of $901 million, up 64% from a year earlier. The company expects sales to rise 3% to 5% in the second quarter, to $930 million to $945 million, higher than a previous forecast. But shares of Broadcom slumped after a couple of analysts said the chipmaker could have a tough time repeating the quarter’s gains.
Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. took the unusual step of responding to a press release from Orlando, Fla.-based competitor Rotech Healthcare Inc. on Medicare reimbursement rates. Investors hammered Rotech after the company said it would be hit by a proposed cut in federal reimbursement rates for Budesonide, a breathing drug. Apria said its revenue would take just a $3 million hit if the rate cuts go through.
Opus West Corp. said it is set to break ground on a 13-story high-rise office building in Irvine. The Irvine office of Phoenix-based Opus West is set to start work on Opus Center Irvine III, a 313,000-square-foot building at Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard, near the John Wayne Airport. Completion is expected in September 2007 … Irvine-based ECC Capital Corp. said that its loan production fell 23% to $1.7 billion in the first quarter, versus a year earlier. ECC said it plans to hire an investment bank to review its options in the wake of massive layoffs and inability to pay a dividend.
Downey Financial Corp. said its profit fell 13.5% in the first quarter as the bank wrestled with rising interest rates and a slowing housing market. The Newport Beach-based company, which is the parent to Downey Savings & Loan, said its profit in the quarter was $44.8 million, down from $51.7 million a year ago. The bank’s interest income jumped 35% to $243 million.
The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Ana Unified School District agreed to start seven technical and vocational schools at Valley High.
Forbes magazine valued the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at $368 million. Owner Arte Moreno paid $183 million for the team in 2003.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County’s housing picture in March, with the median price of a home sold up 10% to a record $623,000, versus a year earlier, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems. The number of sales fell 22% to 3,910 in March, the biggest annual drop in about two years.
