Compiled by Pat Maio
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Lap Shun Hui, former owner of eMachines Inc., bought the Packard Bell European operations of Japanese computer maker NEC Corp.
Companies controlled by Hui bought Packard Bell BV, which sells personal computer and home entertainment products and services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in July the possibility of a Hui buy and said the deal could be worth close to $90 million.
Hui made a name for himself in the U.S. computer industry in 2002, when he invested about $160 million in then-struggling Irvine-based eMachines and took the company private. In 2003, Hui sold eMachines to Gateway Inc. for $290 million in cash and stock.
In August, Hui, who has a roughly 5% stake in Gateway, made public a $450 million bid for its retail business and also offered to buy the entire company. Gateway rejected the offer.
Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. said sales rose 30% in the third-quarter to $903 million. Profits weren’t released as the company continues a probe into stock option grants. For the fourth quarter, Broadcom said it could see slower sales of chips for digital subscriber lines and Internet networking, leading to a 1% gain in sales from the third quarter.
Anaheim-based Targus Corp., a computer bag and accessories company, named the chief executive of Newport Beach’s Water Pik Technologies Inc. as its new leader. Michael Hoopis, who earlier worked with Black & Decker Corp. fills the position left by Roger Murphy, who stepped down this summer.
Disk driver maker Western Digital Corp. has applied for incentives to invest about $940 million in Thailand in the next eight years, according to the government there. Lake Forest-based Western Digital, which already makes drives in Thailand, could set up a plant to produce drives and parts.
NComputing Inc., an Orange-based computer company led by former eMachines Inc. executives, raised $8 million in funding and plans to move its headquarters to Silicon Valley.
Santa Ana-based memory products maker SimpleTech Inc. bought Gnutek Ltd., a British maker of computer storage drives that use flash memory instead of disks. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Newport Beach chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies Inc. said it plans to build a design center in India. The maker of telecommunications chips said the Hyderabad center will provide development and customer support, including for its key Web-based phone chips.
LSI Logic Corp. plans to buy Irvine-based StoreAge Networking Technologies Ltd. for $55 million, according to an Israeli news source. Milpitas-based chipmaker LSI is slated to finalize the deal to buy data storage company StoreAge in coming weeks, according to an Oct. 16 story by Globes, an online Israeli news source.
Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies Inc. completed its $296 million acquisition of Filtronic PLC’s wireless equipment business.
Irvine-based Sun Healthcare Group Inc. acquired nursing and long-term care company Harborside Healthcare Corp. of Boston for about $350 million.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. reported third-quarter profit of $27.8 million, in line with Wall Street expectations. Revenue fell short of projections. The heart valve maker also narrowed its profit outlook for the rest of the year.
Downey Financial Corp., the Newport Beach-based parent of Downey Savings, reported a profit of $57.2 million, down $2.5 million from a year ago. The savings and loan operator also saw a 56% drop in loans made or acquired in the quarter, which came in at $1.61 billion.
Consumer Portfolio Services Inc., an Irvine-based company that makes auto loans to borrowers with imperfect credit, said profit for its quarter ended Sept. 30 was $4.3 million, up 207% from the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $73.7 million, up 49.3% from a year ago.
Newport Beach-based United PanAm Financial Corp., another auto financer, reported a 30% drop in third-quarter profits. Net income was $4.5 million for the quarter, down 30% from the $6.4 million for the same period last year.
