Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
New York-based hedge fund manager Elliott Associates LP late last week pulled its hostile bid to buy Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp. Elliott’s withdrawal ended a two-month standoff between Elliott and Epicor’s board, which urged shareholders to reject the offer. Elliott’s offer valued Epicor at about $450 million.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is opening a temporary office in the Irvine Spectrum next month to manage receiverships and liquidate assets from failed banks. It signed a 200,000-square-foot lease at Irvine Company’s empty 40 Pacifica building. The lease is for three years, with two one-year options. The FDIC expects to gradually move into the space starting at the end of December (see Cover story).
TECHNOLOGY
A Santa Ana judge found San Diego’s Qualcomm Inc. in contempt of a ban on chips that were found to infringe on patents held by Irvine-based rival Broadcom Corp. Qualcomm was found to violate an injunction, ordered about a year ago, to prevent the company from continued infringement of two Broadcom chips. The court ordered Qualcomm to retrieve and destroy chips or pay Broadcom its profits on sales of them. Qualcomm also was ordered to pay the royalties it neglected, a fine for being late and Broadcom’s legal fees.
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc. bought two smaller European electronics distributors. The company bought France’s Eurequat SA and Germany’s Intertrade AG for undisclosed amounts. The two companies saw combined sales of about $90 million in 2007. They’re set to be folded into Ingram Micro’s data capture/point-of-sale division, which it has been beefing up via acquisitions.
REAL ESTATE
Orange County’s median home price slipped $5,000 in October from September as foreclosures and other cheap homes dominated sales, which rose 67% from a year earlier. The median price of an OC home was $420,000 in October, a 1% decline from September, according to La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick. The median price was down $153,750, or about 27% from a year earlier and 35% from its high set in June 2007.
The ongoing fight at Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. took another turn last week as directors accused former chairman Tony Thompson of using a “costly and disruptive proxy contest” to force unwanted change on the real estate brokerage and investment company. The company holds its shareholder meeting in December.
Bankruptcy cases have been filed against four other developments of Irvine-based SunCal Cos., bringing the total to 20 projects. One additional case could be filed Tuesday, completing a round of voluntary and involuntary bankruptcies aimed at paving the way for $75 million in funding to pay maintenance costs at 20 SunCal developments throughout California, including Marblehead in San Clemente. The other projects named in recent bankruptcy filings are in Los Angeles, North-ern California, Palm Springs and Torrance.
APPAREL
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of Cali-fornia Inc. reported a slim quarterly profit be-fore charges early last week that met Wall Street expectations, but the company also warned about the current quarter. The struggling retailer reported an operating profit of $649,000 for the three months through Nov. 3, which matched what analysts were looking for. With charges, Pacific Sunwear lost $2.4 million. Sales continued to slide but came in better than expected. Citi Investment Research analyst Kimberly Greenberger upgraded the company’s stock from to “hold” from “sell” following the reporting, saying the struggling retailer likely will stay in business.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc.’s $50 million fire sale of its struggling ski business,which it bought for $560 million in 2005,prompted Moody’s Corp. to lower debt ratings on the clothing maker to a further level of speculative or junk bond status. Proceeds from the Rossignol sale aren’t enough to cover recently incurred debt, Moody’s said. The company has hired Morgan Stanley as an adviser to possibly sell shares to investors or bring in a private equity firm.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
DOWN: Jobs, as local unemployment hit 6% on the loss of 35,100 jobs in October versus a year earlier, a high for the year, according the state Employment Development Department.
UP: Home buying, which rose 66% in October from a year earlier, according to MDA DataQuick.
