Other news items of interest from the Orange County Business Journal
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. made a number of cuts in its operations last week, according to various trade reports. Quiksilver makes and sells clothes and accessories under its namesake brand, Roxy and DC Shoes, among others. Reports cited a range of possible trims to Quiksilver’s stable of brands along with staff layoffs of as many as 30 workers, and a reduction in the company’s roster of sponsored athletes. A Quiksilver spokesperson declined to comment on whether any cuts have been made. An earlier filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission included word that Chief Operating Officer and Global Brand President Craig Stevenson plans to leave the company at the end of its fiscal year in October. Stevenson’s duties have been split among Chief Executive Andy Mooney and other executives, according to the filing.
Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. is shifting its 187 local employees to another subsidiary of parent Suzuki Motor Corp. of Japan as part of the company’s bankruptcy restructuring. The company said it will “transfer substantially all of the positions” to Suzuki Motor of America Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corp. The remaining unit here is expected to run Motorcycles/ ATV, Marine and Automotive parts and service divisions in the continental U.S., with headquarters remaining in Brea. American Suzuki filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November and is in the process of winding down its automotive sales.
Lake Forest-based Bioshaft Water Technology Inc. signed three contracts with distributors in the Middle East, boosting the company’s presence in a region it has targeted in its bid for international growth. Bioshaft designs and manufactures wastewater treatment plants for municipalities and land developers, among others. Bioshaft’s new Middle Eastern distributors are Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based Water Masters, which plans to provide a sewage treatment system for the 42-story Jawhara Damac Towers; the Makkah Chamber of Commerce in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; and industrial chemical maker Protec in Alexandria, Egypt.
Hycor Biomedical Inc., which has headquarters in Indianapolis and about 115 employees in manufacturing and research and development in Garden Grove, sold its urinalysis unit to three investment firms, including one in Irvine. The deal came on undisclosed terms with Irvine-based Stonecreek Capital, Laurel Crown Partners in Los Angeles, and One Rock Capital Partners in New York. Hycor, owned by Chicago-based Linden Capital Partners, makes various diagnostic devices for the auto-immune and allergy markets. The new owners of the urinalysis business are expected to continue operations in Garden Grove under the name of Kova International Inc.
Venture capital firm Versant Ventures Inc. is among the inaugural tenants at a new center for early-stage companies developed by Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic. Menlo Park-based Versant has an office in Newport Beach. It opened an office in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last year under Managing Partner Kirk Nielsen, who had been at the firm’s Orange County office since 2006.
Irvine-based Allergan Inc. reached a settlement with the mother of a six-year-old boy who developed acute botulism and was left reliant on a ventilator after he was treated with an injection of the drug maker’s Botox to treat spasticity in his legs. Terms were not disclosed.
Three resorts in Orange County were among a total of 76 worldwide to receive top ratings in Forbes’ 55th annual Travel Guide. Montage Laguna Beach, St. Regis Monarch Beach, and Resort at Pelican Hill all got five stars. The spas at the three OC resorts—Spa Montage Laguna Beach, Spa at Pelican Hill and the St. Regis’ Spa Gaucin—were among 35 to get five-star designations. Studio in Laguna Beach was the only local restaurant to receive the five-star rating out of 28 listed.
San Clemente-based Chronic Taco Enterprises Inc. will open a restaurant at the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in April.
The Orange County Business Council launched LocationOC.com, a website intended to help draw companies to the area and promote efforts to “cut regulations, reduce fees and eliminate processes.”
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport, which handled 698,237 passengers in January, an increase of 9.7% from a year earlier. Southwest Airlines and its sister AirTran combined for the largest portion, with 269,505 passengers. United Airlines was second (118,308), followed by American Airlines (91,260).
