Compiled by Mike Mason
Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc., publisher of the Orange County Register, named director Scott Flanders as its next chief executive. Flanders, former chief executive of CD and video marketer Columbia House Co., is set to replace Alan Bell on Jan. 1. Bell, 73, has been chief executive since 2002. He plans to stay on Freedom’s board for a while next year and then serve as a consultant to the company. Flanders, who has been a Freedom board member for five years, becomes president now and is expected to work with Bell during a transition period. He’s set to relocate from New York to Orange County John Campbell easily emerged as the front-runner to replace Chris Cox’s vacated House of Representatives seat. The state senator and former auto dealer didn’t get the 50% majority he needed to win the seat outright in last week’s special election, but Campbell did attract about 46% of the vote in a race that featured 17 candidates. Campbell, who had the backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger, will square off against Democrat lawyer Steve Young and Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist,an independent,in a special election on Dec. 6. Bea Tiritilli of the Green Party and Bruce Cohen of the Libertarian Party also will vie for the 48th congressional district seat.
Broadcom Corp. said it’s buying Fremont-based Athena Semiconductors Inc. for $21.6 million. Athena designs chips for mobile phones to receive TV signals and other wireless products. The deal is expected to close this quarter Irvine-based TransDimension Inc., which makes chips and software that link electronic devices, has been sold to Oxford Semiconductor Inc. for undisclosed terms. Oxford, formerly based in Britain, said it plans to create a new parent company with headquarters in Milpitas as part of the deal. TransDimension’s 55 OC workers are expected to remain here and operate under the Oxford name … Costa Mesa-based FileNet Corp. closed its $11 million acquisition of Yaletown Technology Group.
Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said it plans to buy privately held Webster, Texas-based Diagnostic Systems Laboratories Corp. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Diagnostic Systems posted revenue of $34 million last year. The acquisition is expected to close later this month Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said it granted exclusive rights to sell its Botox wrinkle-reducing drug in China and Japan to Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The drug maker is set to get an upfront payment, royalties and money for research and marketing support under the deal Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. warned that its profit and revenue in the third and fourth quarters would fall short of expectations. Apria said it is being hurt by lower revenue from its hospital contracts for respiratory and other therapies, higher fuel and health benefit costs, hurricane-related expenses and lower Medicare reimbursement rates. The company expects revenue to grow 1% to about $368 million in the third quarter, versus a year earlier, with sales also slow in the fourth quarter.
Santa Ana-based First American Corp. said it paid $35 million to Canada’s Geac Computer Ltd. for its home listing unit that lets realtors customize property data. Meanwhile, First American said George Argyros, head of Costa Mesa-based real estate investor and developer Arnel & Affiliates, is back on its board. Argyros resigned his spot on the board in 2001 when President Bush appointed him ambassador to Spain and Andorra. He previously spent 13 years on First American’s board. Argyros returned from Spain after Bush’s re-election in November Santa Ana-based Triple Net Properties LLC paid $174 million for a 30-story, 540,000-square-foot office tower in Chicago. Triple Net invests in commercial real estate by pooling investors as tenants in common. Such investors typically are looking for a tax break by investing in a deal after having just sold another property Shares of Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. fell after the homebuilder said it received orders for 834 homes during the past three months, up 27% from a year ago. But the total was 91 homes short of a Wall Street forecast.
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. hired Wendy Burden, former vice president of business strategy and operations at Limited Brands Inc.’s Victoria’s Secret unit, as its chief operating officer. Burden is the company’s first COO. PacSun also reported that its same-store sales rose 5.3% in September and that the company backed its forecast of 15% to 20% net income growth for the year ending Jan. 28 Foothill Ranch-based teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. said its same-store sales rose 44.9% in September, compared with an 8% decline a year ago Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said it agreed to settle a dispute with Humphrey’s Cayman Ltd., which is developing a Ritz-Carlton resort on the Cayman Islands. Fluor, which was the general contractor on the project, said it will reverse $34 million of a $65 million charge the engineering services company took to cover the original jury award, estimated attorney fees and interest, and accounts receivable. The settlement agreement calls for neither side to take liability in the case. Meanwhile, Fluor said it won a $500 million pact to install new air emissions control equipment at two of Kentucky Utilities Co. power plants CompUSA Inc. said it is closing five Good Guys electronics store locations in the county. Stores in Brea, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Tustin and Foothill Ranch are being shuttered Bearings maker Timken Co. has bought Los Alamitos-based Bearing Inspection Inc. for undisclosed terms. Canton, Ohio-based Timken said Bearing Inspection’s Orange County operation will be the headquarters for its Timken Aerospace Services unit.
