TOP STORY
Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. is expanding its board to allow San Francisco’s ValueAct Capital Partners to control two seats. ValueAct, which owns more than 11% of MSC shares, agreed to hold off on trying to acquire control of the company until the engineering software maker gets its financial reports in regulatory compliance. MSC boosted its board by two seats to seven as part of the deal (see related story, page 3) … Rancho Mission Viejo LLC’s plan to build up to 14,000 homes on part of 23,000 acres in South County was challenged in a pair of lawsuits. One suit filed by environmental activists also names the Orange County Board of Supervisors and claims the development was OK’d with improper zoning changes. Another challenge from the Mission Viejo City Council argues traffic issues require another $250 million from the county on top of the $144 million that Rancho Mission Viejo has agreed to pay.
TECHNOLOGY
Boeing Co. named Scott Carson chief commercial aircraft salesman, replacing Toby Bright who headed Boeing’s failed efforts in several high-profile bids against rival Airbus SAS. Carson led the aerospace company’s Connexion by Boeing unit in Irvine. Connexion provides high-speed Internet gear and service to airlines. Meanwhile, Connexion said it plans to test its high-speed gear with Vodafone Group PLC for use on laptop computers … Anaheim-based Iteris Inc. stock was approved for trading on the American Stock Exchange. Shares of the traffic software and device maker previously traded on the over the counter exchange … Irvine-based Comarco Inc. won $6 million worth of call box upgrade pacts with San Bernardino Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies, Santa Barbara County and Hawaii’s Department of Transportation.
The Food and Drug Administration warned that a drug made by Costa Mesa-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and sold over the Internet may be ineffective. Valeant recently pulled the drug from the Canadian market; it isn’t approved for use in the U.S. Regulators said the 150-milligram pill version of Valeant’s antipsychotic drug Carbolith that is available online might not be enough to treat users … Anaheim-based Alliance Imaging Inc. lowered its sales and earnings forecast for 2005. Shares of the company fell 15% to $8.3.
Chapman University economists forecast a 7.4% drop in OC housing prices next year. The university had earlier projected a 2.7% decline. Slow job growth and higher interest rates were cited for the revised projection … Residents of El Morro Village, a mobile home park along Crystal Cove State Park, filed two suits in a bid to stave off a Dec. 31 eviction. In one suit, residents claim the eviction would threaten endangered species; another alleges the eviction violates the California Mobile-home Residency Law. The state plans to raze the site and open it up to the public as park land … Tustin-based developer Affordable Housing Resources and an advocacy group have offered $255 million for some 1,200 shuttered homes on 400 acres of the former El Toro Marine base. The homes would be refurbished and rented to military and low-income families … Irvine-based subprime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. said it made $3.6 billion in loans in November, up 57% versus a year earlier.
OC’s Office of Protocol will shutter after county supervisors declined to give $60,000 for the rest of the year. The one-person office was run by Joanne Sokolski and depended on public funds to operate.
Irvine-based clothes maker St. John Knits International Inc. cut 76 workers in November, according to the state Economic Development Department … Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc. plans to sell the international unit of its Gloria Jean’s chain to Australia’s Jireh International Ltd. for $16 million plus $7.3 million in the next six years for licenses and consulting … General Motors Corp. picked Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. to do emissions testing on its 2000 model autos. Meanwhile, Quantum said its operating loss in the quarter ended Oct. 31 widened to $3.5 million, versus a loss of $2.1 million a year earlier, on a 26% decline in revenue to $5 million … Mazda Motor Corp. said it was setting up a Mexican unit, Mazda Motor de Mexico. The unit will report to Irvine-based Mazda North Ameriycan Operations … A judge OK’d a $19.5 million settlement between the Automobile Club of Southern California and 1,300 insurance sales agents in California, Texas and New Mexico. The agents had argued they were due overtime pay. The automobile club has 3,200 workers in OC … The Federal Communications Commission fined Irvine-based Warrior Custom Golf Inc. $23,500 for using recorded messages in sales pitches. The golf club maker has a month to appeal the fine … Same-restaurant sales at Tustin-based Mimi’s Cafe chain rose 4.7% in November, versus a year earlier. Mimi’s is a unit of Columbus, Ohio-based Bob Evans Farms Inc.
