This past week’s news from www.ocbj.com and other sources
TOP STORIES
Anaheim lost out in its bid to land Comic-Con, the pop culture trade show that’s been held in San Diego since 1970 and will stay there for the next five years. Anaheim was considered the frontrunner in luring the show, which draws about 130,000 attendees and has an estimated $163 million economic impact. Los Angeles also was vying for the show. Comic-Con’s organizers opted to stay in San Diego through 2015 after negotiating discounted rates with hotels around the San Diego Convention Center.
HEALTHCARE
Canada’s Biovail Corp. closed its $3.2 billion buy of Aliso Viejo drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (see Health-care column, page 40). The deal, completed amid objections from California lawmakers and Biovail’s founder, did away with the second-largest drug maker based in Orange County after Irvine’s Allergan Inc. The move creates a drug maker with $1.7 billion in yearly sales that’s run from Biovail’s Toronto-area headquarters with operations in tax-friendly Barbados. Biovail makes antidepressant, pain and other drugs. Valeant makes neurology, antiviral and generic drugs. The combined company kept the Valeant name and its chief executive, J. Michael Pearson.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the Irvine-based heart valve maker, is preparing to take the wraps off a 300,000-square-foot medical device plant and research facility south of Salt Lake City. The company’s hosting a ceremony marking the opening of the facility this week. The Utah plant will make disposable products used during open-heart surgery as well as catheters used to remove blood clots from diseased blood vessels. The company expects to add more than 1,000 jobs in manufacturing, business and engineering in Utah in the next 15 years (see related story, page 1).
Irvine-based dental laser maker Biolase Technology Inc. named Federico Pignatelli, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder, as its permanent chief executive. He’s the company’s fourth leader in the past three years. Pignatelli had served as interim chief since August, when former boss David Mulder stepped down. Biolase makes lasers used in various dental procedures and has annual revenue of more than $40 million. The company said it expects to be profitable after a restructuring and landing a $9 million order from distributor Henry Schein Inc.
REAL ESTATE
Tri Pointe Homes Inc., a Newport Beach-based homebuilder that started up operations last year, has raised $150 million from private equity investor Starwood Capital Group. The money will be used to help the builder expand in California and other markets. Tri Pointe was formed by three former executives at Newport Beach’s William Lyon Homes Inc. and has been building in Irvine as well as in Chula Vista, Riverside and Oceanside.
OTHER NEWS
Irvine’s McKechnie Aerospace Holdings Inc., which makes parts for commercial airplanes and the military, is being bought by Cleveland-based rival TransDigm Group Inc. for $1.7 billion (see story, page 4). The sale is believed to be the county’s second largest of 2010 after the Valeant-Biovail deal. McKechnie has been bought and sold three times in the past five years. This latest sale concludes an exit crafted by the New York private equity firm JLL Partners Inc. and the buyout arm of Morgan Stanley. They bought McKechnie three years ago for $850 million from Melrose PLC, a London investment company. McKechnie employs about 1,500 people nationwide, including an estimated 200 locally. The company’s expected to top $300 million in sales this year through its seven business operations. Two of the company’s subsidiaries are based in Placentia.
Awesome Products Inc., a Buena Park maker of laundry detergent, fabric softener, bleach and other chemicals, is spending $40 million to expand operations in Arkansas. The company plans to add about 240 jobs at an expanded plant and a new one across the state line from Memphis. The company makes discount cleaning products that are sold at stores such as Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General.
