Education
California students of the defunct Corinthian Colleges Inc. will receive $51 million in student loan relief, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, joining other U.S. attorneys general in the announcement. The AGs struck the deal alongside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. An Oregon bankruptcy judge must give final approval.
— Deirdre Newman
Finance
Moss Adams LLP, the seventh-largest accounting firm in Orange County, said it will acquire Hein & Associates LLP to create a firm with $600 million in annual revenue. It said it will expand to Denver and Houston while “deepening resources” in Dallas and OC. Denver-based Hein has an oil and gas practice that will round out Moss Adams’ industry portfolio. The combination will add about 300 staffers to Moss Adams, bringing the headcount to nearly 2,900 at 26 locations.
— Peter J. Brennan
Healthcare
Irvine-based ChromaDex Corp. will sell its analytical testing business to Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings in Burlington, N.C. The deal, on undisclosed terms, is expected to close in September. It will help transition the business to LabCorp’s Covance Food Solutions unit. ChromaDex develops and commercializes proprietary ingredients used in dietary supplements and food, beverage, skin care and pharmaceutical products. It also provides preclinical and clinical safety testing services.
— Sherry Hsieh
Manufacturing
Leaf Brands LLC in Newport Beach said it will bid for Switzerland-based Nestle SA’s U.S. candy business. Leaf owns a half-dozen legacy candy brands and has annual sales this year of about $5 million. Its flagship product is Hydrox sandwich cookies. It’s a long-shot effort—Hershey Co. in Pennsylvania and Mars Inc. in Virginia are expected to bid for at least pieces of Nestle’s business.
— Paul Hughes
Media
The Securities and Exchange Commission officially revoked the stock of Irvine-based Ubiquity Inc. Late last month the commission’s Division of Enforcement recommended the stock be revoked based on a pattern of reporting requirement violations. Since the company went public in 2013, it’s filed only its first three periodic reports on time, according to SEC documents.
— Deirdre Newman
Philanthropy
Pacific Life Foundation announced it’s giving $2 million in grants to four marine mammal and ocean-focused nonprofit organizations. Each group will get $500,000 over five years. The benefitting groups are the Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. The money will go toward protection, research, advocacy, and cleanup efforts.
— Hannah Mitchell
Real Estate
Stergios “Terry” Theologides, general counsel and secretary of CoreLogic Inc., is leaving the Irvine-based real estate real estate data and research company, effective Sept. 15, according to the company, which said he’s pursuing new opportunities. A replacement for Theologides hadn’t been named. He joined CoreLogic in 2009 and helped guide it through its split from Santa Ana-based title insurance company First American Corp. the following year.
— Mark Mueller
Restaurants
Two local juice-focused chains announced expansion plans. Nekter Juice Bar Inc. in Santa Ana signed a franchisee to open 17 locations in the Carolinas over the next several years, the first in October near Charlotte. Nekter has 85 locations in six states. The next new state on the West Coast is Washington, which is scheduled to come online by year-end. Meanwhile, Juice It Up in Irvine will re-enter Florida with three franchised locations.
— Paul Hughes
BJ’s Restaurants Inc. said its online ordering platform will offer alcohol delivery in some California markets via its new partnership with food delivery service provider DoorDash Inc. in San Francisco. Five craft beers and 25 wine varieties are available to customers 21 and older.
— Sherry Hsieh
Transportation
The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency obtained a lower rate on 40-year, $125 million bonds on high investor demand. Tolls were up 9.4% in fiscal 2016. The agency reduced its rate to 3.95% compared to the prior 5% as demand exceeded $1 billion across 35 investors. It originally issued the bonds in 2013 as part of the refinancing of the original bonds issued to fund construction of the 133, 241 and 261 toll roads.
— Peter J. Brennan
