Apparel
The Wet Seal Inc. in Foothill Ranch said in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings that its cash balance for the fiscal quarter ended Nov. 1 was approximately $19.1 million. The teen apparel retailer’s announcement follows last month’s decision to eliminate 78 filled and open positions. The company’s stock has fallen from $4 to about 37 cents a share and a market capitalization of $31.6 million over the past year or so.
Automotive
Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. reached a $350 million settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice on charges the South Korea-based automakers violated the Clean Air Act by overestimating mileage claims. The settlement—which also names Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America in Irvine—concludes the EPA’s two-year probe into Hyundai’s fuel economy ratings for its 2011-13 Accent, Elantra, Veloster and Santa Fe vehicles, and Kia’s ratings for its Rio and Soul vehicles. The automakers will pay a $100 million civil penalty, of which $6.3 million will go to the California Air Resources Board. Hyundai’s share of the penalty is $56.8 million, while Kia will pay the remaining $43.2 million.
Finance
Pacific Investment Management Co. rehired Marc Seidner as a chief investment officer, making him the firm’s sixth co-CIO. All of the co-CIOs serve under Group CIO Dan Ivascyn. Seidner had served as a senior portfolio manager at the Newport Beach-based bond fund manager for about five years before leaving the firm early this year. He was previously a managing director and portfolio manager at Harvard Management Co., where he worked with Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco’s former chief executive.
Insurance
Irvine-based NuWest Insurance Services Inc. was acquired by Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC on undisclosed terms. NuWest has about $2.4 million in annual revenue. It’s expected to fold into Marsh & McLennan’s Orange County operations, which were established early this year when the agency acquired Barney & Barney LLC and created the MMA West division. San Diego-based Barney & Barney has an office in Aliso Viejo. Marsh & McLennan is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., a New York-based global professional services firm. The publicly traded parent company had about $12 billion in revenue last year and has about $30 billion in market capitalization.
Media
Two investors who helped Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz finance the purchase of Freedom Communications in 2012 have asked the Delaware Chancery Court to put the media company’s operations into receivership, claiming “it needs independent oversight because the company is insolvent and in financial distress from mismanagement,” according to the website Law360. Abbey Financial LLC and Old Colony 2012 Investment Fund LLC filed a complaint asking the court to fast-track a decision, “in part because of the imminent sale of roughly 15 acres of land in California near the company’s headquarters.”
Real Estate
A co-owner of the defunct Pacific Property Assets real estate investment firm pleaded guilty in connection with a fraud scheme that resulted in investors and banks losing more than $110 million. John Packard, 64, of Long Beach, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of mail fraud. He and codefendant Michael J. Stewart formed PPA in 1999 to buy, remodel, refinance and sell Southern California and Arizona apartment complexes. After the market declined, PPA built a Ponzi scheme, using investors’ money to pay debt and earlier investors, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice. Packard is scheduled for sentencing on May 18. Stewart is awaiting trial.
