TOP STORIES
Irvine-based Fisker Automotive Inc. was awarded a $528.7 million loan from the Energy Department to fund development and production of its upscale hybrid electric cars. Fisker will use $170 million of the money to finish production of its Karma sedan, which runs off a combination gasoline and rechargeable battery engine. The Karma is due out next summer and is set to sell for $88,000 before rebates. The rest of the loan is set to go toward developing a hybrid car, the Nina, designed for families and other users. The Nina would sell for $40,000 starting in 2012. The loan comes on top of $100 million in funding Fisker has raised from investors, including Menlo Park’s Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where former Vice President Al Gore is a partner.
Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli appears to be in legal limbo after a federal appeals court declined to weigh in on a judge’s rejection of his 2008 plea deal in a probe into options backdating at the Irvine chipmaker. The court said it couldn’t rule before Samueli is sentenced on one felony count of lying to investigators in the Broadcom case, which followed a $2.2 billion restatement of the company’s prior financial results. A year ago, a Santa Ana judge declined to sentence Samueli in the plea deal, which would have spared him prison in favor of probation and fines. Going back before the judge raises the prospect of prison for Samueli as the judge could opt for the five-year sentence called for by his charge. The matter could be postponed until after the trials of Broadcom cofounder Henry Nicholas and former financial chief Bill Ruehle next year.
TECHNOLOGY
San Francisco-based private equity firms Vector Capital Corp. and Golden Gate Capital are believed to be the mystery suitors in an ongoing bidding war for Santa Ana’s MSC.Software Corp. (see story, page 4). The duo now is offering $367 million for MSC, topping the latest $361 million offer from Palo Alto-based private equity firm Symphony Technology Group LLC, which has until today to respond. The dueling private equity suitors have traded offers for MSC for most of this month, after Symphony in July first offered $338 million. MSC, which makes simulation software used to test designs of prototypes for military, aerospace and industrial uses, delayed a shareholder meeting set for this week to vote on the original Symphony offer.
Newport Beach-based chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. last week priced an offering of 7 million shares at $2.85 per share, about 15% lower than what the stock was trading earlier in the week. The company’s stock fell some 20% on the news, giving it a market value of about $130 million. Conexant expects to raise $18.4 million from the offering, which was first announced in July. The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt and for other general purposes. The offering should close by the end of this month.
HEALTHCARE
Agendia BV, a Dutch maker of a breast cancer test with its U.S. headquarters and a lab in Huntington Beach, raised $23 million in a fifth round of funding. Undisclosed investors combined with Agendia’s existing investors in the deal. It’s the biggest reported investment in Agendia since 2007, when ING Groep NV and Dutch venture capital firms invested $34 million in the company. Agendia makes a test designed to predict the reoccurrence of breast cancer. It has about 30 local workers.
GOVERNMENT
A special primary election to replace former 72nd District Assemblyman Mike Duvall will be held Nov. 17, with a runoff on Jan. 12 if no candidate wins a majority. Duvall, a Republican who had represented Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, Orange, Brea, Yorba Linda and La Habra, resigned this month after his remarks about extramarital affairs were picked up on a microphone during a lull in a July legislative hearing. Several local politicians, including county Supervisor Chris Norby, have said they will run in the election.
OTHER NEWS
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., an operator of natural gas fueling stations for vehicles whose stock has surged in the past year, is paying $8.3 million to buy a Dallas company it has helped finance. Clean Energy is buying BAF Technologies Inc., which converts vehicles to run on natural gas. Clean Energy, which counts a market value of about $830 million, has provided $3.8 million in financing to BAF. Part of the purchase price will go to pay off BAF’s debt to Clean Energy, cutting the purchase price to about $4.5 million.
