Education
Five Orange County community colleges cracked the top-25 in a national survey of enrollment growth, according to a report by Community College Week that was based on data from the federal National Center for Education Statistics in Washington D.C. Fullerton College was the fastest-growing community college in the country between fall 2012 and fall 2013 for schools with at least 10,000 students. It grew about 24% to a fall 2013 enrollment of about 24,300. The other four local colleges in the top 25—Coastline Community College (No. 3), Cypress College (No. 15), Orange Coast College (No. 19), and Golden West College (No. 23)—added students at clips ranging from 3% to about 10% in the same period.
Healthcare
Actavis PLC said it plans to replace most of the top executives at Allergan Inc. with its own personnel when its $68 billion acquisition of the Irvine-based drugmaker closes next year. Allergan President Douglas Ingram will remain and serve as a special adviser to Actavis Chief Executive Brent Saunders. Allergan Chief Executive David Pyott’s future role hadn’t been determined.
Marketing
Jeff Kelley, founder of Sanuk USA LLC, said he will “transition from an active role” at the Irvine-based footwear brand by the end of the year to market a new drink called Tea of a Kind. Sanuk President Jake Brandman will continue to lead the company. He has held the position since Kelley sold Sanuk to Goleta-based Deckers Outdoor Corp. in 2011 for $120 million.
Real Estate
Asics America Corp. in Irvine moved its headquarters 3 miles northwest to a campus at Lakeview Business Center that’s tailored to the recent trend in creative-office space. The sports apparel manufacturer leased two buildings from the Irvine Company—80 Technology Drive and 15350 Barranca—for a total of 121,332 square feet, or double the size it had at its prior location at 29 Parker.
Restaurants
Larry Cano, founder of the El Torito restaurant chain, died Dec. 10 at his Corona del Mar home after recently being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 90. Cypress-based Real Mex Restaurants Inc. owns the chain today. It started in 1954 with one restaurant in Encino in Los Angeles County and grew into what was at one time a national chain. Industry executives described Cano as a pioneer in casual dining and in popularizing Mexican food in the U.S.
Retail
Wet Seal Inc. said it amended its contract with Bank of America N.A. and will now provide reports on the value of its assets to the lender on a weekly basis instead of once a month as previously agreed. The Foothill Ranch-based retailer also agreed to “provide cash collateral for its outstanding letters of credit, [and enable] daily transfer of deposits from the company’s deposit accounts to [Bank of America’s deposit account].” Wet Seal also announced that Lesli Gilbert will resign as executive vice president of stores and operations, effective Jan. 2.
Technology
The San Jose-based HGST unit of Western Digital Corp. acquired a maker of solid-state storage systems used in scaling cloud and enterprise data centers. The value the cash buy of Skyera, also in San Jose, wasn’t disclosed, but industry watchers have estimated it in the $400 million range. Skyera, which has raised more than $90 million in venture capital funding since its launch in 2010, specializes in high-density flash memory storage arrays. Hitachi acquires engineering talent and intellectual property in the acquisition, which builds upon last year’s series of buys of solid-state makers pushed by Irvine-based parent Western Digital.
Brand Affinity Technologies Inc. hired Irvine-based GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC to find potential bidders to acquire the cash-depleted advertising and social media company, according to a filing in bankruptcy court. A sole bidder has emerged with a $400,000 cash offer, excluding assumption of liabilities and associated costs of the transaction. Brand Affinity aimed to connect sports figures, other celebrities and advertisers for endorsement deals. The company’s main product, Fantapper, is a social media platform that lets users access photos and new reports of celebrities.
Transportation
John Wayne Airport cemented deals for two new round-trip Southwest Airlines routes starting next summer.
It said it had begun selling tickets for daily nonstop service that begins June 7 between Orange County and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The route is still subject to government approval, the airline said. Southwest also said it would begin nonstop service between Austin, Texas, and Orange County on June 28.
