APPAREL
Wet Seal Inc. celebrated the opening of 31 Wet Seal Plus stores across the country, including one Orange County location at The Shops at Mission Viejo. The Foothill Ranch-based apparel company discontinued its Arden B brand and converted its 31 Arden B stores into Wet Seal Plus stores. Its 23 other locations were transitioned into regular Wet Seals.
Martian Watches, an Irvine-based maker of “smart” watches, has partnered with Guess? Inc. in Los Angeles to develop “interactive, voice-command wrist accessories.” It said it plans to announce specific products by early 2015 to be marketed globally by Sequel AG in Switzerland, an exclusive distributor of Guess Watches. Martian, established in 2007, handles design and development in Irvine. Its manufacturing is done in Taiwan.
EDUCATION
Corinthian Colleges Inc. said in a regulatory filing that the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. served it with a grand jury subpoena seeking records on its graduation and job-placement rates and marketing of prospective students. It earlier received subpoenas or other information requests from the Securities and Exchange Commission, state attorneys general, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Corinthian said in July that it will sell most of its campuses and Web-based programs.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Allergan Inc. bought a bladder disease drug development program from Lexington, Mass.-based Taris Holdings LLC in a deal that could be worth some $588 million with incentive and milestone payments (see related story, page 1).
Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System said it will do a feasibility study with an eye toward converting the San Clemente campus of its Saddleback Memorial Medical Center to an ambulatory healthcare campus. Healthcare delivery changes are prompting the study, according to a news release. Findings from the study would be presented to Saddleback’s board next spring, and if it approves, the transition would start later in 2015, the release said.
RESTAURANTS
The parent company of Irvine-based fast casual hamburger chain Habit Burger Grill is eyeing an initial public offering, according to news reports. The reports said the hamburger chain’s parent company, Habit Restaurants LLC, is working with banks on a possible IPO of $75 million to $100 million. Habit Restaurants ranked No. 16 on the Business Journal’s list of OC-based restaurants, with systemwide sales up 40% in 2013 to $117.8 million at 90 locations.
Cypress-based Real Mex Restaurants Inc. named Laurie Lawhorne its new chief financial officer. She has more than 20 years of financial experience, including roles with Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut Inc., Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., and the parent company of both restaurants, Yum! Brands Inc. in Louisville, Ky. Real Mex operates about 125 restaurants across eight brands. It ranked No. 7 on the Business Journal’s June list of OC-based restaurant chains, with estimated annual sales of about $330 million.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based networking chipmaker ClariPhy Communications Inc. raised $19.7 million in venture funding, according to San Francisco-based market tracker CrunchBase. Backers included wireless and networking gear maker Nokia Siemens Networks, the Netherlands-based venture of Germany-based Siemens AG and Nokia Corp. in Finland that’s looked to ClariPhy’s chips to help meet growing demand for network capacity spurred by digital TV, smartphones, cloud computing and other uses.
TOURISM
Anaheim and Newport Beach were among the most-sought U.S. cities for events in the past year, according to a list released by a McLean, Va.-based online database of meetings venues. Anaheim was up seven spots to No. 25, and Newport Beach came in at No. 49, up one notch, CVent Inc. said. The CVent network is a searchable cloud-based database of 218,000 hotels and event venues in 175 countries for about 12,000 customers, including hospitality groups and meeting planners.
