Apparel
Private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners in Palo Alto said it acquired a majority stake in Irvine-based Fox Head Inc. in a deal estimated at more than $200 million. The motocross equipment, apparel and accessory brand, founded in 1974, generates $230 million to $240 million in annual revenue but is unprofitable, according to The Deal Pipeline article that broke the news of the pending sale in September.
Aerospace
Boeing Co. will lay off 360 people in Southern California between Dec. 12 and Jan. 1, about a third in Huntington Beach, according to layoff notices posted by the state Employment Development Department. The Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer will lay off 125 workers in Huntington Beach, 137 in Long Beach, and 98 in El Segundo, according to the notices.
Education
The four children of the late Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom gave $2 million to the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana to help complete a building for music education. Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, Sally Segerstrom, Ted Segerstrom and Susie Perry donated the money in memory of their parents.
Finance
Irvine-based Pacific Enterprise Bank said Chief Executive Rick Ganulin will retire at the end of the year. President Brian Halle will take on the additional role of CEO. Chief Financial Officer Jo Anne Painter also plans to retire at the end of the year. The bank has tapped Allen Nicholson, former chief financial officer of 1st Enterprise Bank in Los Angeles to succeed Painter.
Healthcare
Alliant Insurance Services Inc. in Newport Beach acquired the Campus Group, a New York-based brokerage firm that specializes in employee benefits services. Terms of the deal weren’t announced.
Media
A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles granted the Los Angeles Times’ request for a “temporary protective order” against Santa Ana-based Freedom Communications Holdings Inc.’s flagship Orange County Register. The move is intended to provide a safeguard for the Times as it pursues a claim that the Register owes it about $2.46 million. The Times is seeking a $4.24 million judgment, which would include damages. The suit stems from the Times’ role in providing distribution services for the Register until earlier this year. The Register switched vendors in October in a move that’s caused significant disruptions to its delivery service. The court order prevents the Register—which is seeking to sell land near its office—from “disposing of the proceeds of any transfer of inventory … held for sale.” The suit also lays claim to the publication’s bank accounts, real property, trust accounts and insurance policies. Separately, Rich Mirman, interim Register publisher, said he’ll take on similar duties at the Riverside-based daily Press-Enterprise, a sister publication under Freedom Communications. He replaces Mike Burns, who was among the 100 Freedom employees laid off this month. Mirman said in an earlier statement that the cuts in personnel—the third round this year—were made because Freedom is losing money and, “we need to make (the company) profitable.”
Restaurants
Aliso Viejo-based Johnny Rockets Group Inc. said it and franchisees would save about $450,000 a year with new back-office operations software the retro burger chain developed in-house for $25,000.
Technology
Irvine-based Oculus VR Inc. last week acquired San Francisco-based Nimble VR and the 13th Lab, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Nimble develops hand-tracking technology tailored for the Oculus Rift headset, and the 13th Lab specializes in building accurate real-time 3-D models. Oculus also announced in its blog that noted motion-capture expert and NYU professor Chris Bregler joined the company to direct a vision research team. Separately, British Columbia’s tourism agency is the latest enterprise to utilize the Oculus Rift. Destination British Columbia debuted “The Wild Within” this week for media and industry representatives in several U.S. cities. The headset will cost about $300 when released next year.
