TOP STORIES
Foothill Ranch-based nursing home operator Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. hired J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, part of New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., to look at a possible sale of the company or its real estate holdings. Skilled runs about 100 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in California and six other states. It also provides rehabilitation therapy, hospice care and home healthcare. Last year, Skilled paid $50 million to end a potentially crippling lawsuit over staffing levels at its 22 California nursing homes. A Humboldt County jury originally found Skilled should pay $677 million, an amount that threatened to bankrupt the company.
Seal Beach-based tank rental company BakerCorp was sold from one private equity investor to another in a $960 million deal. The company, which rents pumps, tanks and filtration equipment to industrial customers, was sold to Europe’s Permira by New York-based Lightyear Capital LLC. Lightyear bought the company, previously known as Baker Tanks Inc., from Chicago’s Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC in 2005 for more than $500 million. Code Hennessy bought Baker Tanks for $275 million in early 2004 from Chicago’s Pritzker family. BakerCorp now counts annual revenue of about $250 million, compared to the $150 million it had in 2005.
Employers in the county added 2,100 jobs in March from February, while more job seekers entering the market pushed unemployment to 9.1% from 8.9% a month earlier. Administrative and temporary work drove the job gains. Employers in March added 13,800 jobs from a year earlier, about a 1% gain. That marked the eighth month of consecutive yearly gains as employment here rebounds from the downturn.
TECHNOLOGY
A federal appeals court ruled that Ernst & Young LLP must face a lawsuit over its role in stock options backdating at Irvine-based chipmaker Broadcom Corp. Ernst is being sued by the New Mexico State Investment Council, a Broadcom investor. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling dismissing the suit. The lawsuit alleges Ernst knew of or disregarded misdated options in signing off on Broadcom’s financial statements as its former auditor. In early 2007, Broadcom restated several years of financial results to reflect $2.2 billion in charges for misdated stock options. It has settled a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over options and seen criminal charges against its founders and former executives dropped. Broadcom is in the process of settling a shareholder lawsuit over stock options.
Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. struck a deal to buy Camarillo-based defense electronics maker AML Communications with an uncontested $28.3 million bid. AML makes microwave amplifiers for communications, unmanned aerial vehicles and other products for defense contractors. Microsemi makes chips for military, aerospace, industrial and consumer uses. It topped a $24.3 million bid by East Syracuse, N.Y.-based Anaren Inc. that was initially accepted by AML.
TOURISM
The Garden Grove City Council voted to give preliminary approval for $50 million in bonds that will go to the developer of a proposed hotel and water park. Madison, Wis.-based Great Wolf Resorts Inc. expects to spend about $300 million on the resort about a mile south of Disneyland. City officials said revenue from bed, sales and property taxes spurred by the resort will cover bond payments.
HEALTHCARE
Newport Beach-based Alliance HealthCare Services Inc. made a pair of acquisitions last week. The first deal saw Alliance, a provider of diagnostic imaging and radiation for treating cancer, agree to pay $53 million in cash and debt for Nashville-based US Radiosurgery LLC, which operates eight surgery centers in eight states. In the second deal, Alliance will pay about $5 million in cash for 24/7 Radiology in Houston. Alliance now expects 2011 revenue of $500 million to $530 million, up from a previous forecast of $475 million to $505 million.
HOTELS
Aliso Viejo-based Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. completed its sale of a Miami hotel for $130 million. Sunstone, which owns all or part of 32 hotels, sold the Royal Palm Hotel to Denver-based private equity firm KSL Capital Partners LLC. Sunstone bought the hotel in 2010 for $117 million. It could get an additional $20 million if the hotel meets expectations. The sale is part of a shift by Sunstone away from boutiques to focus on hotels that cater to businesspeople and conventioneers. Proceeds from the sale are expected to go toward acquisitions.
AUTOS
Irvine-based luxury hybrid auto developer Fisker Automotive Inc. raised $40 million in additional investor funding, bringing its total in public and private money to more than $1 billion. Fisker raised the money through a stock sale to Chicago-based Advanced Equity Financial Corp., Fisker’s first car, the Karma sedan, started production in late March at a European contract manufacturer, with sales expected to begin later this year.
