EDUCATION
University of California-Irvine researchers received more than $378 million in grants and contract funding for fiscal 2016-17, the second-highest total in campus history after last year, when it got $395 million, UCI said. The lower total this year is due to decreased federal funding, according to UCI. It said most grants in 2016-17 went to health research.
— Deirdre Newman
FINANCE
Corient Capital Partners LLC, a Newport Beach wealth management firm with $1.8 billion in assets under management, said it hired James “Jamie” A. Rooney to the new position of chief executive. Rooney was previously chief executive at Seattle-based wealth manager Freestone Capital Management, which manages $3.8 billion. Corient, which was founded in 2015, has 15 employees.
— Peter Brennan
HOSPITALITY
Evolution Hospitality in San Clemente and Argosy Real Estate Partners in Wayne, Pa., sold the 216-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel LAX in El Segundo for about $24 million, CoStar records show. The deal works out to $110,500 per room. Evolution is the former management division of Tarsadia hotels. The buyer is Umbrella Hotel Group, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler in Century City, which arranged a seven-year mezzanine loan for Umbrella through Washington Real Estate Holdings LLC in Seattle.
— Paul Hughes
An Ayres Hotel is part of a development that was scheduled to break ground last week in Chula Vista. Costa Mesa-based Ayres Hotels owns and runs 21 properties in California, 10 of which are in Orange County. The Chula Vista location will have 135 to 140 rooms 20 minutes from downtown San Diego.
— Lou Hirsh and
Paul Hughes
SERVICES
Paciolan in Irvine will buy TicketsWest and West Coast Entertainment in Spokane, Wash., on undisclosed terms, a trade journal reported. Paciolan software processes about 120 million ticket sales a year for 500 venues, including 120 collegiate athletic departments, 75 performing arts venues and 100 professional sports and arena clients. TicketsWest provides call center support, retail ticket distribution at about 300 locations, digital marketing and website support for events and venues. It has branch offices in Portland, Ore. and Denver.
— Paul Hughes
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based software maker Vision Solutions Inc. changed hands again as part of a $1.2 billion sale between two private equity firms. Santa Monica-based Clearlake Capital Group sold Vision Solutions and fellow enterprise software maker Syncsort Inc. in Pearl River, N.J., in a packaged deal to Centerbridge Partners, a New York firm with $14 billion in capital commitments over three closed-end funds.
— Chris Casacchia
TRANSPORTATION
JetSuiteX plans 12 flights a week between Burbank and San Jose starting on Sept. 12. JetSuiteX is the public charter division of charter airline JetSuite Inc. in Irvine. JetSuite Inc. flies four- and six-seat planes on traditional on-demand flights; JetSuiteX flies 30-seat planes on set schedules. The latter company has flown schedules involving Burbank and San Jose—Burbank to Concord and San Jose to Bozeman, Mont., for instance—but not directly between the two. The service is aimed at “time-starved travelers who want to get to and from meetings or events in Silicon Valley or Hollywood and still make it home in time for dinner,” said Alex Wilcox, founder and chief executive of both firms.
— Paul Hughes
