This past week’s news from www.ocbj.com and other sources
TOP STORY
Lake Forest-based construction and engineering company Primoris Services Corp. is moving its headquarters to Dallas in January. The move follows acquisitions in Texas and Louisiana that have brought Primoris more business in the central part of the country and Florida. Primoris had a recent market value of $400 million. ARB, a major Primoris subsidiary that does work for utilities, oil and gas companies and others, is set to stay in Lake Forest. ARB has an estimated 400 workers in Orange County.
TECHNOLOGY
Western Digital Corp., a Lake Forest-based maker of disk drives, and top rival Seagate Technology LLC of Scotts Valley are being sued on allegations of patent infringement. Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based Rembrandt IP Management LLC contends the companies violated patents that allow data to be written at higher speeds and greater densities on drives. Rembrandt is among a class of companies that make money by acquiring patents, striking licensing deals and collecting a cut of royalties from companies that appear to be infringing on them.
HEALTHCARE
Iowa’s Vivakor Inc. moved its executive offices to Irvine, where Executive Chairman Matthew Nicosia lives. Nicosia is a founder of Quantum Sphere Inc., a clean-energy company in Santa Ana, and Dermacia Inc., a Newport Beach maker of the Lycogel makeup line for post-surgery patients and others. Vivakor, whose stock trades on the low-profile Bulletin Board exchange with a recent market value of $360,000, does research in molecular medicine, electro-optics and other areas. It also produces VivaThermic vials for the storage of stem cells.
ENERGY
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. plans to sell stock worth $35 million before fees to build natural gas fueling stations and plants, make payments on a recent acquisition and other uses. The company, which runs about 200 natural gas fueling stations for taxis, buses and other vehicles, recently paid $125 million in cash and stock for Canada’s IMW Industries Ltd., which makes and services natural gas fueling equipment.
HOTELS
San Clemente-based hotel owner Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. plans to raise some $200 million in a stock sale and use the funds for acquisitions. Sunstone has a market value of about $1 billion and owns all or part of 30 hotels across the country. The acquisitions are part of a two-prong strategy that saw Sunstone become the first publicly traded owner in the downturn to hand back weak hotels that no longer were worth what was owed on them.
APPAREL
Two cartoon characters used on clothes and accessories from Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries are set to be featured on packaging for Nestle Crunch bars sold at Target stores during the holiday season. Terms of the deal with Switzerland’s Nestlé SA weren’t disclosed. Los Angeles-based Saban Capital Group and its affiliate Saban Brands acquired Paul Frank Industries’ licensing and retail operations earlier this year for a reported $50 million.
FINANCE
Westminster’s First Vietnamese American Bank sold to a Los Angeles bank holding company. Grandpoint Capital Inc. and its Grandpoint Bank acquired First Vietnamese in a purchase-and-assumption deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Grandpoint assumes all of the assets of First Vietnamese, valued at $48 million, as well as $47 million in deposits. First Vietnamese hadn’t posted a profit since it opened and was under regulatory scrutiny.
REAL ESTATE
Santa Ana-based real estate brokerage and investor Grubb & Ellis Co. posted a narrowed third-quarter loss thanks to an increase in deals and said it sees a return to profitability next year. Grubb & Ellis said it lost $14.8 million in the quarter compared to $21.4 million in red ink a year earlier. The company reported $144.3 million in revenue for the quarter, a 6% increase.
A group called Citizens for Sensible Development hopes to put a referendum against a recently approved housing development on an upcoming ballot in San Juan Capistrano. The City Council approved the Distrito La Novia/San Juan Meadows project for 130 houses, 500 horse stables and some commercial space. The project requires zoning approval, with a vote set for Tuesday. Citizens for Sensible Development has until early December to gather 2,000 qualified signatures to put a referendum on a city ballot.
A state grant of $4.2 million to the city of Anaheim will go toward buying a former warehouse and industrial site in the Park Lane neighborhood and turning it into a park and community center near the Orange (57) and Riverside (91) freeways. The grant was one of several from the state’s Proposition 84 bond fund to go to OC for parks and related projects.
OTHER NEWS
Houston-based Landry’s Restaurants Inc. bought San Clemente-based Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., the second local restaurant chain acquired by the company in recent weeks. Terms of the deal for Bubba Gump, which has 32 restaurants and about $300 million in annual sales, weren’t disclosed. Landry’s paid $76.6 million for bankrupt Claim Jumper Restaurants LLC last month.
Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. named Thomas R. Herwitz to head its eight-station broadcasting division. Herwitz served as president of station operations for News Corp.’s Fox Television from 2000 to 2005 and has spent the past five years as a consultant. He succeeds Doreen Wade, who spent the past eight years as president of Freedom Broadcasting.
