ICN Shakeup in the Works; Celebs Dine in Desert

The buzz emanating from the corporate offices of ICN Pharmaceuticals is that boss Milan Panic is close to unveiling a major reorganization (some are using the word “breakup”) of his company into two or three units. The rumored move follows the February hiring of Warburg Dillon Read “to explore strategic alternatives in order to increase shareholder value.” At the time, ICN said WDR’s principal focus would be “the company’s Eastern European operations and the three businesses of ICN’s Biomedicals group,” which might be how you get to three units. Would the reorganization include a sharply reduced role for the fiery Panic, the bane of regulators and investor-critics? Not likely The Insider is told that eDevelopments.com offered to buy the building it will be occupying in Aliso Viejo’s The Summit, but was turned down by Parker Properties. Parker and partner AEW Capital Management have a deal in place to sell the site as part of a package to the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. eDevelopments had originally planned to buy the Parker Aerospace (no relation to Parker Properties) site in Irvine; some observers thought a lease deal,as opposed to a purchase,indicated reduced zeal by eDevelopments for tech startups in the wake of the recent Nasdaq carnage, but not so, the Insider is assured Young at heart: The millennium marks significant milestones for Bert Weinstein, too: He turns 75 in July and on Mother’s Day he and Mieque celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. But who’s got time for reflection? The Weinsteins returned from a family vacation to French Polynesia (where Bert and two sons sailed a 43-foot catamaran around the islands) just in time for Bert to receive this year’s Outstanding Mentor/Angel award from the OC chapter of the American Electronics Association. Bert’s “close-to-full-time job” is senior consultant to OC Biz Council’s Venture Point tech incubator. His secret to staying young and active? “Staying young and active,and keeping up with what technology’s doing and what the world’s doing” GOP watch: The New Majority’s newest members include Dale Dykema, immediate past president of the Lincoln Club Celebrity watch: Alert OCer Joni Jaffe was dining at Wally’s Desert Turtle in Rancho Mirage on May 19 when she noticed that a nearby group included Dan and Marilyn Quayle, “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart and hubbie producer Bert Sugarman, and former Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sara. Which explained all the security around the place, she figures. The Insider idly notes that three days later the Israelis pulled out of southern Lebanon.