This past week’s news from www.ocbj.com and other sources
TOP STORIES
General Electric Co. is paying $587 million to buy Aliso Viejo cancer testing company Clar-ient Inc. The deal values Clarient at 34% more than what the company was worth before the offer and is expected to close later this year or by early 2011. Clarient provides cancer testing for pathologists, oncologists and drug makers.
A $100 million bid by Costa Mesa-based Facilities Management West Inc. for the Orange County fairgrounds was accepted by state officials. The privately held real estate management company appears set to buy the 150-acre site on its own after a prior bid with the city of Costa Mesa fell apart. Facilities Management West is set to make an initial $20 million payment and pay off the rest over 35 years, including an additional $100 million in interest. Newport Beach’s Fait Family Trust is the key player behind Facilities Management West.
Employers here added 4,600 jobs from August to September, as gains in government, education and health services outpaced losses in construction, entertainment and tourism. The county’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in August from a year earlier at 9.6%. On a yearly basis, the county gained 13,400 jobs, a 1% increase from September 2009. That marked the third month of consecutive yearly gains.
HEALTHCARE
Shares of Irvine-based Allergan Inc. jumped after the Food and Drug Administration approved its Botox drug for treating migraine headaches. The approval came several months after a judge approved a $600 million settlement over charges of misleading Botox marketing. Botox, which also is approved for treating wrinkles and other uses, accounted for more than a third of Allergan’s $1 billion in sales in the second-quarter. The latest approval could bring $1 billion in added Allergan sales within five years, according to Ben Andrew of William Blair & Co.
San Clemente-based ICU Medical Inc. upped its outlook for the rest of the year on a boost from a recently opened Eastern European plant and sales of custom-made medical devices. The company projects a 2010 profit of $27.6 million to $28.6 million, up from a July forecast of $25.5 million to $26.5 million.
TECHNOLOGY
Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp.’s profits fell 32%, to $197 million for the three months ended Oct.1, due in part to falling prices for drives during a slow back-to-school shopping season. The company reported sales of $2.4 billion, up 9% from a year earlier.
BlueCava Inc. in Irvine raised $5 million in funding led by billionaire Mark Cuban. The company handles sales of Irvine-based Uniloc USA Inc.’s security software, which helps online retailers protect against fraud and improve targeted online advertising. Cuban, owner of Denver-based cable network HDNet Inc. and the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, is set to join the board. BlueCava is an offshoot of Uniloc, which remains a stakeholder.
Irvine’s Specific Media Inc., which runs an online advertising network, acquired New York-based Broadband Enterprises Inc., a provider of streaming video advertising. Terms weren’t disclosed. Broadband Enterprises is set to be run as a subsidiary of Specific Media and keep its brand name and office in New York.
Brenda Aguis stepped down as chief financial officer of Irvine-based Local.com Corp. citing “personal reasons.” Finance Vice President Ken Cragun was named interim chief financial officer. Aguis was a subject of a critical report about the online search engine operator in August, and Local.com’s shares have fallen by about 30% since. The story by TheStreetSweeper.org raised questions about the credibility of the company’s current and past executives. Local.com has refuted the assertions, calling them “loose implications” designed to benefit short sellers of its shares.
REAL ESTATE
The San Juan Capistrano City Council gave approval and certified an environmental report for Plaza Banderas, a proposed 124-room hotel with stores and a restaurant. Gretchen Stroscher Thomson plans to develop the site, which has been owned by her family for more than 100 years. Thomson said she hopes to complete the project by 2012.
OTHER NEWS
Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are pushing Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp. to buy back $47 billion worth of mortgages packaged as securities by mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, which BofA acquired in 2008. A number of bondholders have contended that Countrywide kept insufficient records on the mortgages and might have erred on matters such as applicants’ incomes and the values of homes.
Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy protection, citing the economy and dwindling contributions. The megachurch, founded by television evangelist Robert Schuller, listed $50 million to $100 million in debts, according to court papers.
A lawsuit filed by some members of late actor John Wayne’s family against Newport Beach-based John Wayne Enterprises has been moved from Los Angeles to Orange County. Alyssa Wayne, the star’s daughter, and five of his grandchildren joined in the suit. They are challenging the value of real estate assets held by John Wayne Enterprises, which is run by Ethan Wayne, a son of the star. Alyssa Wayne and other family members sold their shares of a partnership that held the assets and merged into a limited liability company earlier this year. The deal called for payouts based on “fair market value.”
