Automotive
Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. recalled 208,858 of its Soul and Soul EV models due to a problem with the gas pedal, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recalled vehicles were manufactured between July 21, 2013 and Jan. 8 of this year. A section of the accelerator pedal may bend and fracture, making it difficult to control vehicle speed. Kia dealers will add a supporting rubber pad underneath the pedal stopper, starting Tuesday.
Finance
Orange County Business Bank investors have started a proxy fight for board seats in an effort to cut managers’ salaries, increase shareholder returns and potentially sell the bank, the Los Angeles Times reported. The report indicated the bank has lost more than $1 million on a cumulative basis in a little over a decade while failing to grow and paying its chief executive $4.6 million in salary and bonuses during that period. The bank had about $200 million in assets at the end of last year, the same as four years earlier, and ranked 16th out of 19 OC-based commercial banks on a Business Journal list last year.
Healthcare
Actavis PLC completed its acquisition of Irvine-based drugmaker Allergan Inc., which was valued at about $72.5 billion at the time of the closing. The combined company will take the Allergan name and primarily operate from New Jersey, although company officials have said the Irvine operation will be its specialty-drug hub. Allergan Chief Executive David Pyott “elected not to join” its newly reconstituted 12-member board, though he’ll remain chair of the Allergan Foundation. Michael Gallagher and Dr. Peter McDonnell, who were Allergan directors, will be part of the combined company’s board.
San Clemente-based medical device maker ReShape Medical Inc. raised $2 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Privately held ReShape makes the Duo balloon device, which is inserted endoscopically into a patient’s stomach to assist with weight loss. The company didn’t disclose the investors, round number or plans for the offering’s proceeds. ReShape has raised more than $48.5 million since its inception. Duo is approved in Europe and under Food and Drug Administration review here.
Insurance
Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. said former Allergan Inc. President Douglas Ingram has been elected to its board, effective May 1. Ingram had served as Allergan’s president since July 2013. He previously was an executive vice president for the company, serving as president of Allergan’s Europe, Africa and Middle East region.
Media
The Los Angeles Times was granted a $4.2 million “writ of attachment” against the Orange County Register in Superior Court, according to a Courthouse News Service report. The lien applies to assets owned by the Register and covers “bank accounts, stocks, bonds, securities, brokerage accounts, and real property,” according to the report. It came in a March 12 order stemming from a lawsuit over newspaper delivery fees the Times claims it’s owed by the Register (see related OC Insider item, page 3).
Restaurants
Costa Mesa-based El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. plans to enter the Dallas market next year as part of an expansion plan that calls for growth to a mix of about 40 franchised and company-owned restaurants in Texas over the next several years. Texas has been a focus for the fast-food chicken chain’s recent growth. It plans to add five to seven company-owned sites in Houston this year. El Pollo Loco has 416 restaurants overall—40% company-owned and mainly in the Southwest, with most in California.
Other
Joel Moskowitz, co-founder and head of bullet-proof ceramics maker Ceradyne Inc. in Costa Mesa, died March 15 from complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Corona del Mar resident was 75. Ceradyne’s ceramics are used in body armor worn by U.S. troops, and the company benefitted from demand from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moskowitz and three friends formed Ceradyne in 1967. 3M bought Ceradyne in 2012 for $860 million. It now operates as a unit of the St. Paul, Minn.-based parent and ranked No. 16 on last year’s Business Journal list of aerospace and defense contractors.
