AGRICULTURE
Hines Growers Inc. will close its San Juan Capistrano location, effective Oct. 1, affecting 115 workers, a California EDD Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing said. Hines was a wholesale grower of plants that ran as an LLC with six locations totaling several thousand acres in four states. It entered bankruptcy in 2010 and sold its land and operations to Temecula-based Color Spot Nurseries, which now runs the San Juan Capistrano facility.
EDUCATION
News reports said a proposed class of shareholders suing Corinthian Colleges Inc. reached a $2.25 million deal in California federal court to settle claims that the operator of for-profit colleges misled investors for years before state and federal probes contributed to its closure. Corinthian was based in Santa Ana. It’s accused in dozens of lawsuits of taking advantage of students through misleading post-graduation job placement rates.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based private equity firm Mercury Partners bought DirectMed Parts & Service LLC, a San Diego supplier of medical imaging parts and services. Terms were undisclosed. Mercury buys and operates lower middle-market, founder-owned companies. It focuses on U.S. firms in business and financial services with $10 million to $50 million in sales. Mercury Managing Partner Brad de Koning will replace DirectMed’s co-founder as chief executive.
MEDIA
Irvine-based Lumina Media LLC said it will lay off 58 employees. It was founded in 2013 as I-5 Publications and changed its name in March 2016. It publishes magazines and digital content primarily for people who own or work with animals, and car and motorcycle enthusiasts. Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations Cameron Triebwasser said Lumina is cutting back because it’s selling assets. She declined to elaborate.
OBITUARIES
Surfing media pioneer John Severson, who founded Surfer magazine in San Clemente in the early 1960s, died on May 26 on Maui in Hawaii at age 83, according to news reports. The New York Times reported the cause of death was leukemia. He sold the publication for an undisclosed sum after about a decade of building a loyal following. He’d moved to San Clemente with his family from Pasadena and started surfing, along with photographing and painting scenes of the waves. He later grew frustrated when President Richard Nixon bought a house next-door and the Secret Service limited the public’s access to the waves.
RETAIL
The Los Angeles-based Dearden’s retail chain will close its eight stores by August, including two in Orange County, according to news reports. It has one store in Anaheim and one in Santa Ana. The company, founded in 1909, said effects of the recession and “changing consumer trends,” including online competition, drove the decision to close. Latinos have made up the bulk of the 420-employee chain.
RESTAURANTS
OC-based restaurant chains and chief executives made the Fast Casual Top 100 list of fast-growing companies: No. 3, Slapfish in Huntington Beach, which has eight locations and plans to operate about 15 by year-end; No. 14, Pieology in Rancho Santa Margarita, which has about 135 locations and commitments to double in size; No. 18, Muscle Maker Grill, which has about 50 units, up about 20% since American Restaurant Holdings Inc. in Irvine bought it two years ago; No. 20, Chronic Tacos in Aliso Viejo, which has about 40 locations, up nearly 50% in the past year; No. 68, and Juice It Up in Irvine, which has 88 locations and plans to hit 100 by year-end. CEOs named to the top 24 are Andrew Gruel of Slapfish, who heads the list, and Carl Chang of Pieology.
