Distribution
Santa Fe Springs-based distributor USE Co. Inc. was sold on undisclosed terms to Ingersoll Rand in Davidson, N.C., and will operate in conjunction with a recently acquired business in Buena Park. USE has distributed Ingersoll Rand’s compressed air equipment, parts and services to industrial customers in Southern California since 1923. USE has about 40 employees, who will join Ingersoll Rand as the company’s Santa Fe Springs Customer Center. The Santa Fe location will work with Ingersoll Rand’s Buena Park customer center—formerly known as Osterbauer Compressor Service in Buena Park—to form the corporation’s new Los Angeles District.
Education
Hope International University in Fullerton will merge with Nebraska Christian College outside of Omaha, according to news reports. Hope is a private Christian school established in 1928. The report said school officials say the combination will ensure financial stability and afford regional accreditation and additional course selections.
Finance
Irvine-based Opus Bank received the International Interior Design Association’s 2016 Calibre Design award in the small workspace category for its retail office at the bank’s headquarters at the Newport Gateway office campus in Irvine. The design features a reception area with two tellers to serve customers in an 800-square-foot space that’s part retail bank and part working office. Opus adopted the floorplan, which was designed by San Francisco architecture design firm Gensler in response to reduced foot traffic at retail banking sites as customers increasingly use ATMs and do banking online.
Healthcare
San Clemente-based CareTrust REIT Inc. bought four senior housing properties in Michigan. CareTrust owns and invests in healthcare-related real estate. It was created in 2014 when Mission Viejo-based nursing home operator Ensign Group Inc. spun off its real estate holdings. The company said it leased the four properties in the Michigan communities of Clarkston, Goodrich, Burton and Lapeer, to New York-based Premier Senior Living LLC.
Marketing
Irvine-based Advantage Solutions acquired e-commerce specialist Sage Tree LLC in Naperville, Ill., on undisclosed terms. Advantage, which had nearly $2 billion in revenue last year, provides sales, marketing, merchandising and digital technology services to packaged goods manufacturers and retailers. Sage Tree’s roster of brands includes Honeywell. It will continue to be led by its two founders and principals, Ian Haldimann and Robb Powell, and operate under its name as a business unit in Advantage’s technology division.
Media
Trinity Broadcasting Network co-founder Jan Crouch died at age 78 after a massive stroke. Trinity, now based in Tustin, is one of the world’s biggest Christian television broadcasters. Crouch founded the network in 1973 with her husband, Paul, who died in 2013.
Real Estate
Seattle-based real estate data provider Zillow settled four federal lawsuits over conditions at its Irvine office, the Orange County Register reported. The claims said the office had a “frat house” atmosphere that included harassment, retaliation and discrimination. The company also reached a settlement in principle in a class-action lawsuit that claimed it failed to pay some $5 million in over-time wages to employees in the Irvine office. A judge hadn’t yet ratified that agreement. The company said in a statement that it admitted no wrongdoing related to the lawsuits’ claims.
Services
Irvine-based call center operator Alorica Inc. will acquire Expert Global Solutions in Plano, Texas, on undisclosed terms in a deal expected to close in the third quarter. Expert Global Solutions is also a call center operator and about the same size as Alorica, with revenue of $1.1 billion and 40,000 employees in 11 countries. The merged companies will operate under the Alorica name.
