ENERGY
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. inked a 10-year deal to build, supply and manage a natural-gas fueling station for Fairfield, Texas-based Green Energy Oilfield Services. The company has 60 natural gas-powered trucks.
ENTERTAINMENT
Irvine-based online-game maker Blizzard Entertainment Inc., a unit of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc., posted a 52% drop in quarterly revenue to $276 million through Dec. 31. Blizzard, which didn’t release any new games last year, reported a 76% decline in operating profit to $71 million.
Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds ride is getting a $1 million renovation (see related story, page 1). The attraction was shut down Jan. 9 and is expected to be out of action six months.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based private equity firm Solis Capital Partners LLC secured $42.5 million for its Solis II fund, which will be capped at $100 million. The balance of funding is expected by year’s end.
Irvine-based Display Works LLC secured $24.3 million in debt and equity financing from an investor group led by Praesidian Capital in New York. The exhibit company was acquired by private equity firm JBP Growth Capital Partners LLC of Columbia, Md., in 2008.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based natural-products company ChromaDex Corp. hopes to raise at least $10 million in two stock sales. Proceeds will be used for its BluScience line of dietary supplements, the company’s first consumer brand intended for retail sales.
Clinics in Beverly Hills and West Hills have temporarily halted offering Lap-Band surgeries after Irvine-based Allergan Inc. discontinued sales of the device to facilities marketed via 1-800-GET-THIN. Federal regulators have been probing the marketing campaign and affiliated clinics after some patient deaths.
MEDIA
Time Warner Cable will close a Garden Grove call center, with plans to transfer its 82 workers to other facilities. The Chapman Avenue facility will be put to another unspecified use by the cable company.
REAL ESTATE
Homebuilder Taylor Morrison Inc. bought a 28.4-acre parcel with 132 lots in San Juan Capistrano from Pacific Communities Build Inc. in Newport Beach on undisclosed terms. Construction of homes on the land—situated in a gated community of San Juan Hills Golf Course—is expected to start shortly, with the first homes set to go on sale in summer.
RETAIL
The sales slump at Taco Bell Corp. is showing signs of a turnaround, as Louisville, Ky.-based parent Yum Brands Inc. said its Irvine-based fast-food chain finished the fourth quarter with a sales surge. Taco Bell still finished the period and all of 2011 with a 2% decline in same-store sales in the U.S. The late quarterly trend upward came after the chain launched a First Meal breakfast menu, aiming to match the success of its late-night Fourth Meal menu.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based M86 Security Inc., which makes security and filtering software, raised $13.6 million in equity financing from an unnamed investor. The funding follows a $3 million round in 2010.
Santa Ana-based circuit-board maker TTM Technologies Inc. reported $361.5 million in fourth-quarter revenue, down 3% from a year earlier but just above analyst expectations. Adjusted profit fell 30% to $27.7 million. Wall Street was expecting adjusted profit of about $24.4 million.
Technology startup Numescent raised $2 million of an intended $10 million funding round from unnamed investors. The Irvine-based company, which is working on cloud paging technology, previously received $7.5 million in seed funding from unnamed investors.
OTHER NEWS
The Volcom Pipe Pro surfing competition off the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, drew at least 10 Orange County surfers. John John Florence of Hawaii finished No. 1 for the second year in a row for the event sponsored by Volcom Inc., a Costa Mesa-based maker of apparel inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: New business formations in OC in January, when 2,841 fictitious business names were filed with the clerk-recorder’s office, the highest total in seven months. The monthly filings also registered a small uptick from a year earlier, when 2,834 business names were filed. The 22% monthly increase largely reflected an historic pattern of December-to-January leaps. Most of the filings—also known as DBAs—typically reflect startups, although some are periodic renewals.
