Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. is paying $800 million to buy Olympus Corp.’s medical diagnostics business. Beckman said it would pay for the deal with $300 million in newly issued stock and $500 million in new debt. Beckman said the deal would provide it with chemistry products, add tests to sell to hospital labs and bring customers to its immune system tests. The buy is expected to close in the third quarter, pending regulatory approvals.
Medtronic Inc. said it is buying CoreValve Inc., an Irvine heart valve company, for $700 million and future milestone payments. CoreValve is developing a new type of heart valve that’s inserted via a catheter and doesn’t require open heart surgery. The deal steps up competition for Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp., which has an early lead in less-invasive valves.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp. reached a “standstill agreement” with activist investor Elliott Associates LP that puts a cap on Elliott’s ownership of Epicor and ensures Elliott won’t make any moves to buy Epicor for a year. Under the agreement, Elliott is allowed to buy a maximum of nearly 15% of Epicor’s shares and up to $100 million of its debt. Elliott now owns about 11% of Epicor’s shares and $28 million in debt. As part of the deal, shareholders appointed two directors to Epicor’s board, Richard H. Pickup and John M. Dillon.
HEALTHCARE
Aliso Viejo-based drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International reported higher fourth-quarter income and upped its profit outlook for 2009. Valeant’s adjusted fourth-quarter profits were $43.2 million, up 72% from a year earlier and besting the $23.3 million analysts had expected. The higher profits came even as Valeant’s sales declined 3% to $183 million and missed the $185.2 million analysts were looking for. Shares slumped on concerns about Valeant being able to move beyond cost cutting to growth.
REAL ESTATE
In the largest recorded office sale this year, Chapman University bought an 115,000-square-foot building in the Irvine Spectrum that it will use as its administrative headquarters and Irvine satellite campus. The building, at 16355 Laguna Canyon Road, sold for more than $20 million, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. The three-story building previously served as the headquarters for subprime auto lender Consumer Portfolio Services Inc.
Standard Pacific Corp. has replaced its chief financial officer and general counsel. John Stephens, formerly a senior vice president and corporate controller at Standard Pacific, was named chief financial officer. He replaces Andrew Parnes, who resigned earlier last week, the company said. John Babel was appointed general counsel and secretary, replacing Clay Halvorsen, who also resigned recently.
Santa Ana-based First American Corp. posted a lower fourth-quarter profit of $9.3 million before charges that beat Wall Street’s expectations. Revenue came in at $1.35 billion, below what analysts were looking for (see story,
page 1).
FINANCE
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Aliso Viejo’s Point Center Financial Inc., a real estate finance company owned by the husband of state Assemblywoman Diane Harkey. In an e-mail to roughly 3,000 investors, President Dan J. Harkey said the SEC had subpoenaed records from the firm in connection with a $25 million investment pool that funded construction loans. More than 50 Point Center investors filed a lawsuit against Dan Harkey, accusing him of placing money in risky construction loans and funneling profits to his wife’s campaigns.
EDUCATION
California State University, Fullerton, and California State University, Long Beach, plan to cut enrollment for the fall by about 1,500 full-time-equivalent students, making them two of the hardest hit in the 23-campus CSU system. This will be the first time in nearly 20 years that CSU has been forced to reduce its enrollment to save money.
GOVERNMENT
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking to roll back pension increases handed out to Orange County deputy sheriffs in 2001. The decision in the yearlong suit pitting the county against the deputies union means county supervisors must decide Tuesday whether to appeal.
The county argued that when supervisors retroactively granted a lucrative pension enhancement to deputies, it was a gift of public funds and violated the state constitution’s debt limits.
OTHER NEWS
Ceradyne Inc. received a $12.1 million order to be delivered in the first and second quarter of 2009. This order is part of a three-year contract issued in late 2007. The Costa Mesa-based body armor maker also posted a 40% drop in profits to $21.3 million in the fourth quarter and lowered its guidance for 2009.
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations is reportedly laying off 110 workers with a large percentage of them coming from its Irvine headquarters. The U.S. arm of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. said much of its Irvine office would be affected, although there is no official word on how many workers will be let go.
The California Economic Employment Department is looking to hire more than 400 people statewide, including 30 in Orange County.
