Finance
Deloitte & Touche LLP named Tim Brandt chief of its Orange County offices, where he’ll oversee 750 employees. Brandt, 48, succeeds Rob Lucenti, who held the role for almost 10 years and is being promoted to audit growth leader for the West region. Lucenti, 54, said he will continue living in OC.
Santa Ana-based mortgage lender Stearns Lending LLC said it acquired the wholesale, nondelegated correspondent and consumer-direct lending businesses of Primary Capital Mortgage LLC on undisclosed terms. Atlanta-based PCM originated $1.9 billion last year, Stearns said.
Barron’s named four Orange County-based advisers to its annual list of the Top 100 Women Advisors in the U.S.: Shannon Eusey, chief executive and co-founder of Beacon Pointe Advisors of Newport Beach, No. 6, down from No. 2 a year ago; Lalla Pence of Pence Wealth Management in Newport Beach, No. 10, down from No. 8; Trudy Haussmann of Securities America in Lake Forest, No. 50, down from No. 37; Anouchka Balog of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Laguna Niguel, No. 58, up from No. 70.
Healthcare
Allergan PLC will buy Stuart-Fla.-based Keller Medical Inc., which makes a breast implant insertion device that reduces surgeon and patient contact during surgeries. Keller will be part of the Dublin, Ireland-chartered pharmaceutical company’s plastic surgery and regenerative medicine business in Irvine. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed.
Obituaries
Dr. Roger Steinert, chairman of the University of California-Irvine school of medicine’s department of ophthalmology and founding director of its Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, died on June 6 at his home in Colorado after a battle with brain cancer. Steinert, 66, was a nationally recognized leader in cataract and refractive surgery.
Real Estate
Irvine City Council voted 3-2 to approve a deal with developer FivePoint Communities Inc. to turn 125 acres the company owns near the Santa Ana (5) and San Diego (405) freeways into OC’s first veterans cemetery. The vote allows Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint to transfer the site’s development entitlements to 125 acres the city owns on the opposite side of the former El Toro Marine base. FivePoint says the swap will result in a cemetery that’s less costly and easier to develop while allaying neighbors’ concerns about a cemetery close to homes at Great Park Neighborhoods, which it oversees. It’s said it will put at least $10 million into the initial cemetery phase.
Restaurants
Del Taco Restaurants Inc. in Lake Forest named John Cappasola Jr. chief executive to succeed Paul Murphy, effective July 7. He’ll take Murphy’s spot on the board of directors. Cappasola’s been chief brand officer since 2011, was named president in January, and has held senior leadership roles since 2008. Murphy has been chief executive since 2009.
Services
Santa Ana-based Pipeline Group Inc. was bought on undisclosed terms by Prometheus Group. Pipeline provides technology products and services to industries that include energy and utilities. Its leaders will continue at the combined company. Prometheus of Raleigh, N.C., provides software for maintenance and operations in asset-intensive industries.
Technology
The former interim chief executive of Irvine-based Ubiquity Inc. recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud investors, according to news reports. Nicholas Mitsakos admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. He was charged in August with civil and criminal fraud violations in connection with the San Francisco-based hedge fund he created and managed, Matrix Capital Markets LLC. Regulators alleged he misrepresented the fund’s performance and the amount of assets under management.
Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Irvine virtual reality maker Oculus VR, has a new company that’s developing surveillance technology for international borders and military bases, the New York Times reported. Facebook Inc. bought Oculus in 2014. The story said that Luckey, who once kept a home in OC, now lives in San Mateo County. It said people familiar with the surveillance technology say he considers it’s more cost-effective than the wall President Donald Trump has proposed for the U.S. border with Mexico. Luckey donated money for Trump’s presidential campaign and inauguration.
