“Since introducing the original imageFORMULA P-150, we have received tremendous feedback regarding the versatility of this on-the-go scanning solution, resulting in increased demand from several market segments, including Mac users,” said Jim Rosetta, vice president and general manager, Imaging Systems Groups, Canon U.S.A. “For mobile workers, on-the-go company representatives or the traditional ‘road-warriors’, it is essential to have a reliable and precise imaging solution to help streamline and conduct business — and the imageFORMULA P-150M is an ideal device to meet that need among Mac users.”

With many computer users drawn to the intuitive functionality of the Mac operating platform, the P-150M allows for quick connectivity and minimal set up time via a single USB port that also serves as a convenient electrical source from the attached computer. The embedded Canon CaptureOnTouch software lets Mac users easily start scanning without installing drivers or additional applications while also routing scan information directly to Evernote(TM), a service for saving and organizing content across desktop, mobile and web devices. Additional functionality is provided by a TWAIN driver for easy hardware integration with third-party Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software. Technology features such as Color Dropout, Auto Color Correction and Advanced Text Enhancement II, allow the imageFORMULA P-150M to quickly and smoothly capture original hard copy documents with precision and exceptional image quality.

Measuring only 11-inches long, 3.7-inches wide, 1.6-inches high and weighing approximately two pounds, the Canon P-150M redefines the minimum dimensions of a document scanner with automatic document feeder. It can scan letter-sized documents at up to 15 pages-per-minute (ppm) or 30 images-per-minute (ipm) in duplex scanning* and holds 20 pages in its ADF, maximizing document capture in tight work spaces while still fitting easily into a briefcase for use on the go. In addition to its sleek design, a unique blend of sophisticated software, compact size and advanced functionality makes the imageFORMULA P-150M an ideal solution for all Mac users ranging from on-the-go “road warriors” to small-office environments.

The imageFORMULA P-150M personal scanner has been designed with Canon’s initiative to take an environmentally conscious approach to product design and life-cycle. This scanner meets the ENERGY STAR(R) qualifications for energy efficiency and complies with RoHS and WEEE directives for reduction of hazardous substances and waste products.

The Canon imageFORMULA P-150M “Scan-tini” personal document scanner is available immediately through all authorized Canon resellers for a manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) of $295**.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2009+, with global revenues of US $35 billion, is listed as number four in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2009 list, and is on the 2009 BusinessWeek list of “100 Best Global Brands.” Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei — “all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future” — Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company’s RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.

Specifications and availability subject to change without notice.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

* Examples based on typical settings, rated in pages/images per minute with letter-sized documents, portrait feeding direction, up to 200dpi with one USB cable and AC adapter, or two USB cables. Actual processing speeds may vary based on PC performance and application software.

** Price subject to change without notice. Actual prices are set by individual and may vary.

+Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

SOURCE: Canon U.S.A., Inc.

That was before Bill Foley got hold of it.

Nowadays, Micro General’s revenue is close to $100 million annually and there are no postage meters in sight.

And that’s just for starters. Foley, a deal-maker famous for making big bets on title insurance and fast-food chains, is making Micro General his play on the Internet.

“We are clearly Bill Foley’s Internet strategy,” said John Snedegar, Micro General’s chief executive. “We have no other technology elsewhere.”

But Foley’s recent bets haven’t fared so well on Wall Street. With rising interest rates and a recently concluded merger, shares in his Irvine-based Fidelity National financial Inc. were at 15 last week, flat for the year and down 28% from last July’s 22 level. Shares in Anaheim-based CKE Restaurants Inc., where Foley serves as chairman, have been in a prolonged downtrend since early last year and were at 3 last week. And Micro General itself has been hammered in the tech-stock downturn, going from 45 in March to 10 last week.

Micro General grew out of real-estate services company Fidelity National. Fidelity still owns more than two-thirds of the company’s shares through Micro General’s 1998 reverse merger with Fidelity ACS Systems Inc., a Santa Ana maker of real estate software that once served as Fidelity’s data processing unit. Fidelity also is a big Micro General customer.

But as part of a move away from stodgy postage meters, an industry dominated by Pitney Bowes Inc., Foley is recasting Micro General as an Internet services company.

Among recent events:

n Micro General is selling its long distance telecommunications unit, which provided two-thirds of its $95 million in revenue last year.

n The company’s beefing up its insider-dominated board of directors with former Microsoft Corp. executive Dwayne Walker, political insider California state GOP chair John McGraw and real estate columnist and Internet businessman Bradley Inman. (See related story, this page.)

n Micro General formed a new company, Santa Ana-based Escrow.com, along with Fidelity. Escrow.com recently hired Russell Stern as chief executive, who was in the running to be CEO at Irvine-based disk-drive maker Western Digital Corp.

n In April, Escrow.com, a Micro General unit, received $30 million in funding from, among others, Softbank Corp., Chase Manhattan Corp. and Hong Kong’s Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. The funding comes even after March’s fallout in technology stocks.

n The company recently announced plans for a spin-off. The division, which hasn’t yet been named, will offer online real estate settlement products and services designed to handle transactions over the Internet. CEO Snedegar expects Micro General to launch other spin-offs in the next couple of years.

n Micro General’s stock recently moved from the low-profile over-the-counter bulletin board to Nasdaq.

n The company’s employee count has jumped to 392, double the number it had six months ago.

When compared to Foley’s other businesses,Fidelity National, with $3.4 billion in 1999 revenue, and CKE Restaurants Inc. of Anaheim, with $2 billion in 1999 sales,Micro General seems like small potatoes.

But Foley has signaled a renewed interest in Micro General. He’s back in the role of Micro General co-chairman after stepping down from that spot a year ago to focus on his other companies. Patrick Stone, Fidelity’s president, is the other co-chairman.

“Bill’s a lot more interested in what we’re doing nowadays,” Snedegar said.

For the first quarter, Micro General’s revenue increased 6% to $20.5 million. Net losses continued, coming at $1.6 million, compared to the previous year’s loss of $1.4 million. Company officials attribute the loss to increased operating costs at its telecommunications unit.

Micro General’s shares have been on a wild ride. They were as low as 2 last summer and reached a zenith of 45 in March before getting whacked in the recent technology stock correction. They now trade at about 10.

“It’s really hard to go against the current trend,” Snedegar said.

Foley sold 65,000 shares for an estimated $2.4 million on March 9, the day before the stock hit its peak. He still owns 4.5% of the company. Snedegar has another 7.3%. Fidelity owns the lion’s share, at 69%. Only about 3.9% of the closely held company’s 12.9 million shares are floated.

Snedegar joined Micro General’s board in 1998 and took over as CEO a year ago. He replaced Bruce Crair, a former Cox Communications PCS executive who said he left Micro General in March 1999 because of what he called “a difference of philosophy over the direction of the company.”

Before joining Micro General, Snedegar ran four other companies now listed on the Nasdaq exchange. Perhaps the best-known local company is StarBase Corp. of Santa Ana, a provider of Internet products with a market cap of $214 million.

“I went in there, cleaned it up and took it public,” he said of StarBase.

In the past three years, Micro General’s revenue has grown a chart-busting 3,000%. A big part of that growth came after Foley came on board and moved Fidelity’s technology unit, ACS, to Micro General. Fidelity then contracted with Micro General for technology services.

“Fidelity, by creating Micro General to do its outsourcing, has taken what is an expense and will turn it into a profit,” Snedegar said. “That benefits their shareholders.”

There’s more to it, Snedegar said. Foley and others are looking to Micro General to nurture and spin off new businesses.

“Out of it, they create opportunities, such as escrow.com,” he said. “We might take what was an expense and turn it into a billion-dollar asset. It’s a brilliant strategy. Some of it we stumbled on and some of it we planned.”

Escrow.com has been up and running since November. Snedegar is its chairman and Foley is a member of the board. Other noted board members are Yoshitaka Kitao, the No. 2 executive at Softbank, where he is VP and CFO, and Ken Minihan, a retired general who was director of the National Security Agency. Investors value escrow.com at $148 million, Snedegar said.

“Micro General owns 60% of escrow.com. That is an $80 million value that we consider as an asset,” he said.

Further down the line, Micro General is looking to spin off another business that collects Internet sales taxes for government entities.

In the near term, Micro General faces a transition. The company plans to sell LD Exchange, a provider of long-distance phone services that it bought for $3 million in 1998. The unit provided two-thirds of Micro General’s revenue in the first quarter. And it’s been a big reason for the eye-popping growth that’s gotten Micro General onto several lists of fast-growing publicly traded companies.

So why the sale? Profits at LD Exchange aren’t as big as company officials expected. And as Micro General pursues Internet services, most of which are tied to real estate, a phone service company is the odd man out.

Even so, Micro General stands to make a profit from the sale of LD Exchange, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. It’s asking $9 million to $15 million for the business, though the potential buyer hasn’t yet been disclosed.

Snedegar is looking to an increase in business from Fidelity to offset the loss of revenue from an LD Exchange sale. He’s also looking to growth from escrow.com and other units.

Micro General also will get a boost from Fidelity’s March buy of Chicago Title Corp., which now becomes a Micro General client. The Chicago Title acquisition doubled Fidelity’s size, making it the industry’s largest title insurer. Moreover, some 150 employees who ran the technology side of Chicago Title are being transferred to Micro General. This group includes senior managers, technical staff, electronic-commerce developers and others.

Hotels in all parts of the county have seen corporate meetings canceled or put off, while major conventions by and large have held their own.

In Anaheim, five large corporate groups that had booked meetings at several hotels have canceled since October, according to Mindy Abel, vice president of convention sales for the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor

By RAJIV VYAS

Orange County is in an odd but fortunate predicament.






As the California and U.S. economies gird for job losses this year, OC is projected to grow its employment base by about 1%, an extra 9,000 to 16,000 jobs, depending on who you ask. The gain, albeit small, comes after four years of OC outpacing the nation and besting the state for three years.






In fact, OC hasn’t seen a monthly decline in job growth on an annual basis for the past eight years.






Services, retail and government are pegged to account for the new jobs. Healthcare and defense also are growing, but those gains are offset by losses in technology and industrial goods. Homebuilding and public works are keeping construction workers busy, though not quite enough to temper the falloff in commercial projects.






There are several theories as to why OC is projected to add jobs this year. The oft-cited conventional wisdom: OC’s economic diversification of the past decade.






“There is one plus for us and that is we do not have a very high concentration in the sectors that have experienced most of the weakness,mainly high tech and manufacturing,” said Esmael Adibi, director and professor of economics at Chapman University. “Most of our jobs are in sectors that did not get hurt,construction, finance, real estate, services.”






But diversification, on its face, only explains why we aren’t doing any worse than the nation, not better.






The most positive take for OC is that the county is able to lure people and companies in other sectors even as it loses jobs in technology and manufacturing. Call it the quality-of-life factor, some economists say. Desirable places to live are apt to see more people and companies moving in than out, even during down times.






Another line of thinking is that the county’s service and government sectors are playing catch-up to OC’s economic and population growth of the past few years,still a testament to the area’s drawing power. Retailers, government and service firms all are adding jobs as a follow-on to the buildup of people and jobs that played out in the past few years. That secondary job growth could be enough to carry OC through a short and shallow national recession.






There’s also a chance that the county is lagging the rest of the nation, with the real pain still to come. Or maybe the job projections are just plain wrong.






Economists can’t offer any one compelling case for why OC is expected to add jobs this year. Several factors likely are work, including OC’s place at the center of Southern California coupled with regional development and demographics trends. The county’s industry mix also plays to its advantage.






But economists say OC’s drawing power as a place to live and work is a common dominator. That’s an edge OC has over other places, according to some economists.






“People move to Orange County because it remains a very desirable place to live,” said Keitaro Matsuda, a senior economist at Union Bank of California in San Francisco. “Once people move to a place, they create jobs. The job opportunity they create attracts more people.”






The quality-of-life theory supposes that OC is able to draw enough jobs to offset some high-profile losses, and then some. After all, tech companies slashed thousands of jobs here last year with more cuts to come. For one, San Diego-based Gateway Inc. this year plans to shutter its Lake Forest plant, which counts about 400 workers.






A high-profile example in the plus column is Ford Motor Co.’s Premier Automotive Group, which recently moved from Detroit to Irvine. In doing so, the Ford unit joins a host of Asian automakers here, including Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. and Hyundai Motor America, which came to the Southland to be near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and ended up settling here.






“The lifestyle definitely is good here, and that is attracting a lot of people and companies here,” said Gurd-Ulf Krueger, vice president of market research at Irvine-based real estate venture fund Institutional Housing Partners.






The effect of county’s population growth in the past decade,growing 18% to 2.8 million people,can’t be underestimated, economists say.






Take state and local governments. With more people living here, government has been a notable factor in OC’s job growth in the past decade. In the early ’90s, state agencies and local governments employed around 105,000 people here, or slightly less than 8% of OC’s workforce. In 2001, 143,000 people were working in government, or 9.5% of the employment base here.






This year, Chapman University is projecting the government sector will outpace the overall economy by growing employment by 1.7% or almost 2,300 jobs. That could account for as much as 15% of OC’s projected new jobs this year.






But government is vulnerable, according to Howard Roth, chief economist at the state’s Department of Finance in Sacramento. Califor-nia has frozen hiring except for safety, he said, and local governments stand to feel the sting of the state’s budget deficit. The fast-growing University of California, Irvine, also has hit the brakes.






As a result, most of the projected job growth in state and local government stands to come from already approved projects.






Retail jobs also are growing in OC. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Wisconsin’s Kohl’s Corp. all are adding stores in OC. New retail jobs could account for about 20% of OC’s projected new jobs.






That leaves the service sector to create the bulk of new OC jobs. Real estate, finance, insurance and other service sectors are seen making up 70% of OC’s projected job gain, or as much as 11,000 jobs.






Several service companies are setting up or expanding OC operations. Among them is insurer Balboa Life

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Blizzard hired Future’s custom publishing unit to create and distribute the magazine, which is set to debut in the fall and weigh in at about 150 pages.

Blizzard officially launched the magazine at its annual fanfest in Anaheim—Blizz-Con—which was held two weeks ago.

The magazine won’t have any advertisements and will only be sold by subscription ($40 for one year and $70 for two years). The magazine also is set to be published in French, German and Spanish.

Future’s magazine lineup in the U.S. includes PC Gamer and the official magazines for Nintendo Co., PlayStation and other console systems.

Dan Amrich, a senior editor of the Xbox 360 official magazine, will be editor-in-chief.

The idea is that World of Warcraft: The Magazine will look more like a glossy coffee table book geared toward fans and collectors.

Some in the industry have questioned Blizzard’s decision to go into print media during a time when the industry is hurting.

Others argue that Blizzard has enough of a captive audience to make money with subscriptions.

More than 11 million people around the world pay about $15 a month to play “World of Warcraft” online.

“Warcraft” isn’t the only Blizzard game that sells swag.

Ahead of its new “StarCraft II” trilogy, Blizzard teamed up with Carlsbad-based Razer USA Ltd. to develop specially branded computer gear aimed at serious players.

Vizio Stays No. 1

During the second quarter, Irvine’s Vizio Inc. held on to its market share lead for the most popular type of flat TVs sold in North America.

Vizio had a 22% market share for liquid crystal display TVs, up from its 21% share in the first quarter and its 15% share during the fourth quarter, according to data from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.

Vizio beat out No. 2 Samsung Group (21% market share) and No. 3 Sony Corp. (12% market share).

Vizio shipped 1.5 million LCD TVs in the second quarter, up 11% from the first quarter, the data showed.

Vizio’s TVs, which are designed in Irvine, are often hundreds less than competitors’. It sells them through big-box stores and national retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and others.

UST Global in Chile

Aliso Viejo’s UST Global Inc., which provides custom software services, outsourcing and consulting for big companies, is set to open an office in Chile.

Officials from UST met recently with President Michelle Bachelet at Chile’s White House: El Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago.

The Chilean government has committed millions of dollars in incentives to attracting investment from U.S.-based companies.

Arun Subramony is set to head operations of the Chilean business, which is set to operate as a business unit of UST Global.

The Chilean office, in the port city of Valparaiso, should open at the end of the year.

UST builds custom software for large companies in several markets, including healthcare, insurance, finance and media.

Customers include Dell Inc., Apria Healthcare Group Inc., Carnival Corp.’s Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. and San Diego’s Sempra Energy, among other big companies.

UST Global has been readying to go public, possibly in 2010, when it’s shooting to see $500 million in yearly sales.

Integrien’s Venture Funding

Irvine’s Integrien Corp., a startup maker of software that helps manage e-commerce, stock trading and other programs that are costly if they go down, has raised $6.5 million in venture funding.

This was Integrien’s third round of venture funding for an estimated total of around $30 million raised to date.

Its investors are Menlo Park-based Clearstone Venture Partners and private equity firm Acartha Group LLC.

Integrien plans to use the money to expand its sales and marketing efforts, according to Chief financial Officer Mark Smialowicz.

“The company is going through a really big growth period right now,” he said.

Integrien’s software helps manage other monitoring software. It crunches data and tells tech workers when to pay attention and what to pay attention to in order to head off potential problems.

Integrien targets customers in healthcare, banking, payment processing and online retail.

Some of its customers include Lake Forest’s Western Digital Corp., JPMorgan Chase

The economic woes of the past two years or so played out on the Business Journal’s list of second-tier public companies.

The list, which normally features 50 companies—those ranked Nos. 76 to 125 based on yearly revenue—has 35 companies this year.

This week’s list is part of our annual ranking of the largest public companies based here. Nos. 1 through 75 were published April 5.

No. 110 Newport Beach-based Team Nation Holdings Corp., a title insurance and escrow company, is the final entry on this week’s list. It reported $2.6 million in revenue for the 12 months through September, up 191% from a year earlier.

Several companies that were on last year’s list don’t appear this year for various reasons. Some were acquired, went private, moved out of the county or just closed up shop during tough times.

Several canceled their publicly traded shares, saying in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission they no longer could afford the cost of being public.

Overall, the list’s 35 public companies saw $506 million in 2009 revenue, down 9.4% from a year earlier.

The 50 second-tier public companies on last year’s list saw $1.3 billion in sales in 2008.

This year’s companies, which are ranked by revenue for the most recently reported 12 months, usually through December, lost $205 million in 2009.

The loss was narrowed from $232 million a year earlier.

Twelve companies on the list saw revenue grow, 22 saw declines, and the revenue for one public company—No. 80 Irvine-based telescope and optical equipment maker Meade Instruments Corp.—was a Business Journal estimate.

Only 10 companies on the list saw profits in 2009.

The companies on the list employ 1,668 people locally, up 1% from a year earlier.

Overall, the companies employ 3,043 people throughout their worldwide locations, down 2.5% from a year earlier.

No. 76 Tustin-based drug maker Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. was the list’s biggest revenue gainer by actual dollar amount.

It saw $31.4 million in sales for the 12 months through January, up 181% from a year earlier.

It lost $10.4 million for the period, narrowed from a loss of $19 million a year earlier.

The company, which makes drugs for cancer and viral infections, was the Business Journal’s fastest growing public company this past June.

It posted a 380.4% revenue growth rate for the three years ended last June.

The drug maker went from $4.9 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 2007 to $23.3 million for the same period ended June 2009.

Despite its growth, the drug maker doesn’t yet have a commercial drug on the market.

In 2008, the Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency awarded Peregrine a contract worth up to $44.4 million to develop and tests its bavituximab drug and another antibody as treatment for viral hemorrhagic fevers, which can cause high fevers, shock and death.

The Ebola virus is categorized as a viral hemorrhagic fever, which various military personnel throughout the world are exposed to.

“Our record revenue, decreased net loss and increased cash position (for the three months ended January) are consistent with our strategy of managing our financial resources to support the development of our clinical-stage products as we move toward potential commercialization,” Chief financial Officer Paul J. Lytle said in a recent statement.

No. 84 Lake Forest-based Comarco Inc. was the list’s second biggest revenue gainer by dollar amount.

It saw $20.5 million in sales for the 12 months ended October, up 174% from a year earlier.

It saw a loss of $729,000, narrowed from a loss of $11 million a year earlier.

Comarco designs and markets slim power adapters that charge notebook computers, digital cameras, cell phones and other mobile gear.

In 2008, the company sold two of its three business lines in an attempt to begin making a profit.

It sold its business making and servicing emergency roadside call boxes for about $3 million in cash in a management-led buyout.

It also sold its unit that made equipment to test and maintain wireless networks to Switzerland’s Ascom Holding AG for $13 million.

The company was having a hard time juggling the three unrelated product lines, it told the Business Journal in 2008.

Comarco’s results for the three months through October “demonstrate that the strategy we have put in place is working and Comarco is well on the path toward achieving its goal of profitability,” said Chief Executive Sam Inman in a statement.

No. 86 Irvine-based Netlist Inc., a maker of specialized memory products for computers, was the list’s biggest revenue decliner by dollar amount.

It saw $18.5 million in revenue for the 12 months ended December, down 72% from a year earlier.

It lost $13 million, narrowed from a loss of $15 million a year earlier.

Its revenue decline was due to weakened demand and falling memory chip prices, which in turn crimped the prices of Netlist’s products, according to the company’s most recent quarterly report.

It also stopped selling some of its products in 2009, the report said. Netlist now is focusing on memory boards with specialized controller chips that help manage other memory boards within servers.

This year’s list of second-tier public companies, always a work in progress, featured three newcomers.

Newport Beach-based Rubicon financial Inc. debuted at No. 97 on the list.

The provider of insurance, mortgages and real estate services saw $10.8 million in revenue for the 12 months ended September, up 269% from a year earlier.

Irvine-based Bluefire Ethanol Fuels Inc. debuted at No. 106 with $4.3 million in revenue, up 302% from a year earlier.

The maker of biofuel was the list’s biggest revenue gainer by percentage.

Team Nation Holdings debuted as the list’s final entry, No. 110.

Download the 2010 OC’s Top Second-Tier Public Companies list (pdf)

Reform could benefit hospitals, medical device and drug makers and others if it ends up providing insurance to more people and spurs demand for products and services.

But reform has to be paid for, which has led to proposed taxes that could eat into profits.

Medical device makers face a $2 billion yearly tax as part of proposed healthcare legislation. Local device executives led an effort to have the proposed tax scaled back from an original proposal of $4 billion.

Drug makers are looking at an $8 billion a year tax to fund healthcare reform.

And Irvine’s Allergan Inc. and others are fighting a proposal to tax cosmetic medical procedures that would raise $6 billion in 10 years.

Beyond reform, 2010 stands to be busy for several local healthcare companies.

Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. is set to continue a U.S. trial for its Sapien valve, which is inserted via a catheter and doesn’t require major surgery.

Sapien, which is sold in Europe, could go before the Food and Drug Administration next year. Sapien and rival devices are seen as the biggest advancement in heart valves in years.

Santa Ana-based Abbott Medical Optics Inc., a maker of eye surgery devices and contact lens care products that’s part of Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories, is looking for Food and Drug Administration approval of its Synchrony replacement lens for cataract patients next year.

Abbott Medical got Synchrony through its parent company’s $400 million buy of Irvine’s Visiogen Inc. in September.

The county’s hospitals are set to be comparatively quiet in 2010 after a building boom earlier this decade, with a couple of major projects in the works.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is set to open its Hoag Hospital Irvine in the summer after a renovation (see more details below).

Kaiser Permanente, the Oakland-based not-for-profit that runs the county’s largest health maintenance organization, will continue working on its $850 million healthcare complex in Ana-heim that includes a hospital, two medical office buildings, a central utility plant and a parking structure.

The project, the largest in the county, is set to be done in 2013.

Employers that provide healthcare for their workers are set to pay more in premiums in 2010, though the rate of increase isn’t expected to be as steep as in year’s past.

Companies in the county and other parts of Southern California could see costs go up 6% to 10% next year, depending on whether they make changes to their current plans, according to New York-based consulting company Mercer LLC.

PERSON TO WATCH: RICHARD AFABLE

Richard Afable, chief executive of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, is heading up his hospital’s first expansion beyond Newport Beach.

He’s overseeing an $85 million transformation of the former Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center into Hoag Hospital Irvine.

The hospital, which closed in early 2009, is set to reopen in the summer.

Hoag took over the lease of the hospital from longtime Dallas-based operator Tenet Healthcare Corp., which has cut back its local operations in recent years.

Afable had been looking to expand Hoag’s operations in Newport Beach, spending as much as $390 million.

The Irvine hospital is set to add 175 beds to Hoag’s 500 or so in Newport Beach.

—Vita Reed

COMPANY TO WATCH: VERTOS MEDICAL INC.

Aliso Viejo-based Vertos Medical Inc. is set to roll out a spinal treatment next year that could catch the eye of some bigger medical device companies.

In early 2010, Vertos plans to come out with what it calls its “mild” system, which stands for minimally invasive lumbar decompression system.

The product is used to treat lumbar spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal.

The company has plenty of money for the product launch. Vertos raised $15.5 million in an October round of venture funding. Since the company’s 2005 start, it has raised $32.5 million.

Vertos is run by James Corbett, a veteran of several medical device makers with local roots. Before coming to Vertos last year, Corbett was chief executive of Ev3 Inc., a Minnesota-based maker of devices to treat arterial disease with about 350 workers in Irvine.

—Vita Reed

Beckman Fills Key Division Spot; ProCare One Bought by Horizon Health






HEALTHCARE by Vita Reed

Some in the investment community saw Ribapharm Inc., the biotechnology arm of Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., as the crown jewel of the drug maker’s breakup plan.






They pointed to its library of some 3,500 modified DNA compounds and ribavirin, an anti-viral drug marketed by Schering-Plough Corp. as part of the Rebetron treatment for hepatitis C.






But the difficult stock market of late,particularly for drug makers,hasn’t been easy on Ribapharm, which is based out of ICN’s Costa Mesa campus.






At recent check, Ribapharm, which ICN publicly sold 20% of in April, was trading around 9,below its opening price of 10 and a target price of $13 to $15. The company’s hit a high of 11.80 on April 9.






But Ribapharm’s market value still is impressive: it was at $1.3 billion early last week, compared with ICN’s $2 billion market capitalization at recent check.






Meanwhile, the newly seated board of directors at ICN said it planned to review previously announced plans to distribute the remaining 80% of Ribapharm and break off ICN’s international unit, citing “changed circumstances and marketing conditions.”






ICN had said it would distribute the remaining shares of Ribapharm to shareholders within six months after the initial spinoff. Ribapharm’s public debut was part of a reorganization plan that was demanded by dissident shareholders who felt that ICN wasn’t living up to its potential.






Ribapharm also became an issue during a bruising proxy fight that led to the election of three independent directors during ICN’s annual meeting in May. During the proxy battle, ICN said it was going to drop a plan to grant stock options in Ribapharm to company executives in the face of investor opposition.






But dissident shareholders kept up the criticism, particularly after Milan Panic, ICN’s now-retired founder and chief executive, paid himself a $33 million bonus after Ribapharm’s offering.






In fact, dissidents wanted to take aim at Ribapharm’s board and management “to recompose those in such a way that investors would have full confidence in the independence of the board,” said Tim Rankin, an assistant portfolio manager at Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC of Short Hills, N.J. Franklin and Iridian Asset Management of Westport, Conn. led the proxy fight that placed three new independent directors on ICN’s board, including interim Chief Executive Robert O’Leary.






Beckman Hires Diagnostics Head






Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. has filled a key position.






The maker of medical diagnostic and research gear has hired Scott Garrett, a Baxter International Inc. alum, as president of its clinical diagnostics division, which counts $1.4 billion in yearly sales.






Garrett replaces longtime division chief Albert Ziegler, who retired from Beckman Coulter in April of this year.






Most recently, Garrett served as chief executive of Chicago-based healthcare investment firm Garrett Capital Advisors LLC. Before that, he was chief executive of Kendro Laboratory Products LP, a maker of testing products that was bought by Charlotte, N.C.-based SPX Corp. last year.






“I have spent my entire career in the healthcare and life science industry focused, for the most part, on medical devices and scientific instruments,” Garrett said in a statement. “I’ve been keenly aware of Beckman Coulter and can frankly say there is no company in the industry where I would rather work.”






Earlier in his career, Garrett spent 20 years with Baxter. As a member of Baxter’s executive team, Garrett played a key role in the company’s 1994 sale of Dade International Inc.,now Dade Behring Inc.,to a group of investors.






Ziegler, 63, spent 15 years with Beckman. He is credited with building up the company’s clinical diagnostics business and plans to serve as a Beckman consultant through year’s end. Ziegler joined Beckman as vice president for North America operations in what was then the diagnostics systems group in 1986.






Nurse Staffing Agency Acquired






Horizon Health Corp. of Lewisville, Texas, has bought ProCare One Nurses LLC of Santa Ana. Terms weren’t disclosed.






ProCare provides specialized nurse staffing services to hospitals in California and Michigan.






ProCare’s annual revenue is around $24 million. The company provides more than 375 nurses to 94 client hospitals, according to Horizon. ProCare was founded in 1987 and began as a perinatal agency that provided nurses to Southern California hospitals, eventually growing into a full-service agency that provided stationary and traveling nurses in a range of specialties.






Horizon officials said the ProCare deal would allow it to diversify within the healthcare services industry and that ProCare’s Santa Ana corporate office will remain open. Horizon’s other lines of business include providing employee assistance plans and mental health services to businesses and managed care organizations, along with being a contract manager of clinical programs offered by general acute-care hospitals.






Healthcare Execs Talk Costs






health insurance premiums have risen at a rapid rate,some estimates have costs going up in the 20% range or higher for 2003.






The subject of rising costs is set to be raised July 16, when the National Human Resources Association’s Orange County affiliate presents “The Future of Employer Sponsored Healthcare” at the Orange County Airport Hilton. There are three scheduled panelists:






n Christopher Wing, president of Health Net of California and former president of PacifiCare of California.






n Michael Stephens, president and chief executive of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach.






n Christine Metz, a West Coast-based vice president of sales for Lumenos Inc., a private, venture-backed health services company out of Alexandria, Va. Lumenos’ healthcare approach is based on the concept of combining medical savings accounts with a high-deductible insurance policy for more serious conditions.






Bits and Pieces:






OnCure Technologies Corp., Newport Beach, entered a pact with Positron Imaging Technologies LLC of Oakdale to acquire Positron’s 20% equity interest in Jaxpet LLC, a Florida entity that owns a mobile positron emission tomography scanner. The scanner performs diagnostic tests on cancer patients. Jaxpet is now a subsidiary of OnCure, which owns, operates and manages 13 radiation cancer treatment centers OptimumCare Corp., Laguna Niguel, said it’s signed a letter of intent to acquire an undisclosed medical staffing company with annual revenue of around $3 million. OptimumCare provides outpatient and inpatient behavioral health services … National Fibromyalgia Association, Orange, launched Fibromyalgia Aware, a consumer-oriented magazine for people with the disease, which is marked by fatigue, widespread muscular pain and tenderness on specific points of the body I-Flow Corp., Lake Forest, launched AskYourSurgeon.com, a Web site that features information about its On-Q post-operative pain relief delivery system.

The trend echoed that of the county’s 75 largest publicly traded companies, which saw a 19% sales increase to $104 billion last year and flat local employment. Our list of the 75 largest public companies appeared April 10.

For the private companies, this year’s sales gain marks the third straight year of growth. The companies on the list are a diverse group of technology businesses, grocers, real estate owners and developers, auto dealers and others.

More than half the companies, 38 of them, saw higher sales in 2005, including some estimated gains by the Business Journal. Seven had lower revenue. Four were flat. A percentage change estimate for the rest, 26 companies, couldn’t be made.

The list, which ranks the largest private companies based here by 2005 sales or for the nearest 12 months, includes companies owned by individuals or investor groups and excludes subsidiaries.

Because the companies are privately held, the list includes several estimates based on input from sources, industry publications or comparisons to similar publicly traded companies.

The top 10 companies on the list dominate. They accounted for more than half of the $5 billion in new revenue the companies posted last year.

The most significant gain came at No. 2 Orange-based ACC Capital Holdings Corp., parent of Ameriquest Mortgage. The Business Journal estimates a $700 million gain, or 28%, at the mortgage lender last year. We estimated ACC Capital at $3.2 billion in 2005 revenue.

Not far behind was No. 7 WL Homes LLC, a Newport Beach-based homebuilder whose main unit is John Laing Homes. The company’s $606 million sales gain was a 58% increase from 2004.

The gain pushed WL Homes to $1.6 billion in 2005 sales and up from No. 10 on last year’s list.

Newport Beach-based Pacific life insurance Co. again tops our list.

The life insurer reported $4.6 billion in 2005 revenue, up 12% from 2004.

Pacific Life maintained a healthy lead over ACC Capital, despite the big estimated surge at the mortgage lender.

Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co. tightened its grip on the No. 3 spot with a 22% gain to $3 billion in 2005 revenue. The maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics (see story, page 1) has about a $600 million edge over No. 4 Irvine-based Golden State Foods Corp.

Golden State, a supplier to McDonald’s Corp., saw its sales rise 9% to $2.4 billion.

Rounding out the top five is The Irvine Company, which traded places with Golden State, last year’s No. 5. The Newport Beach-based real estate owner and developer saw an estimated 5% rise in 2005 revenue to $2.3 billion.

Only Top 10 Decliner

Only one company among the top 10 showed a decline in 2005 revenue, No. 8 Brea-based Ventura Foods LLC. The maker of salad dressings and other food oils saw sales slip 2% to $1.56 billion and dropped from No. 6 on last year’s list.

“It was totally as a result of the soybean oil market,” said Rick Mazer, Ventura’s chief executive. “Revenues go up and down based on the value of the soybean oil market.”

2004 saw a surge in soybean oil prices that drove up revenue, according to Mazer. Last year’s supply returned to normal, he said.

Ventura is the largest user of soybean oil in the country, Mazer said.

A highlight from the mid ranks of the list: No. 51 Angels Baseball LP, Arte Moreno’s operating company for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team.

The team saw revenue rise 29% to $200 million last year, based on Moreno’s testimony earlier this year in the lawsuit with Anaheim over the team’s name.

Local employment at the companies was down 2% to 37,164 people. Total employment was flat at 134,473 people.

Kingston exemplified the trend. The company’s OC employment was off 11% to 872 people as job growth in China pushed total employment up 13% to 2,726 people. Kingston opened a 260,000-square-foot plant in Shanghai this year.

ACC Capital’s Ameriquest had an impact on the list’s overall job tally. The Business Journal estimates Ameriquest to be off 50% to 1,000 OC workers and down 50% to 3,500 people companywide.

The numbers factor in Ameriquest’s plan detailed this month to cut 3,800 workers by closing its retail branches to deal with a slowdown in the mortgage business.

Without Ameriquest, the 74 other companies saw a 1% gain in local jobs and a 3% rise in total employment.

Two companies on the list sought to switch to our public companies roster but ended up pulling plans for initial public offerings: No. 30 Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc. and No. 37 Costa Mesa-based Anna’s Linens Inc.

No. 47 El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc., recently filed to raise $135 million in a public offering. No. 57 Newport Beach-based Jazz Semiconductor Inc. filed to raise $105 million.

Several companies appear for the first time on the list, which always is a work in progress given the nature of private companies. The list is expanded from 60 companies last year.

Newcomers include: No. 23 Newport Beach-based Koll Co., a real estate owner and developer with $400 million in 2005 sales; No. 31 Anaheim-based Northgate Gonzalez Supermarkets, a Hispanic grocer with an estimated $325 million in yearly sales; No. 39 Brea-based Nature’s Best Inc. with $273 million in sales last year; No. 43 Orange-based Budget Blinds Inc. with $250 million in 2005 sales; and No. 49 Irvine-based shoe maker American Sporting Goods with $220 million in estimated yearly sales.

Four companies on last year’s list didn’t qualify this time around.

Santa Ana’s GeoLogistics Corp., which ranked No. 7 last year, was acquired by Kuwait’s PWC Logistics and appeared on our foreign-owned companies list earlier this year. Same goes for Huntington Beach-based C

Bethel, Alaska-based Bethel Native Corp. said this month it has bought a controlling interest in 2100 Main Street, a 90,000-square-foot office building near John Wayne Airport.

The building’s just off Von Karman Avenue, next to the Crown Plaza Hotel.

Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. The purchase price for the majority stake is believed to be slightly more than $200 per square foot, according to parties familiar with the deal.

That would place the building’s value at about $18 million.

It’s the only office that Bethel Native, which is based about 400 miles west of Anchorage in the southwestern part of the Alaska, owns in California, according to the company’s Web site.

It might not be the last, as the company could be looking for other acquisitions in what it feels is a bottomed-out market.

Bethel Native also may be the first Alaska Native Corporation to have invested in the OC office market, according to Al Beaudette, chief executive of Irvine-based Attentus Advisors.

Alaska Native Corporations, which were established by the U.S. government in the 1970s, are controlled by Alaska natives through privately owned shares of stock.

Attentus, a real estate management consulting company, acted as an adviser for Bethel Native in the deal and is helping it identify other potential deals.

There’s more than 200 Alaska Native Corporations that were created to provide economic benefits to Alaska’s native people. Bethel Native bills itself as the sixth largest of those.

In the 2100 Main Street deal, the company bought the interest of the property’s general partner as well as two limited partners in a trio of transactions. One of the primary sellers is believed to be an affiliate of Newport Beach-based Saunders Property Co.

Irvine’s Morgenstern Property Co., another partner in the property since early 2008, still is part of the ownership of the office and will act as the operating partner.

The four-story 2100 Main Street building, which is said to be about 95% full, serves as the headquarters for SullivanCurtisMonroe Insurance Services LLC.

Irvine Concourse

It’s the second sale of an Irvine Concourse office to take place of late.

About a block away from the 2100 Main Street building, the new office tower built by Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. is believed to be wrapping up a sale for about $177 per square foot.

Newport Beach’s Greenlaw Partners and Westbrook Partners of San Francisco are expected to close on the building, at 2050 Main Street, shortly. That tower is about 70% empty.

financial adviser Attentus expects 2050 Main Street to worth closer to $300 per square foot when it’s leased up.

Bethel Native could be on the look out for other deals. The company explored other properties in California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona before making the Irvine acquisition, according to Chief Operating Officer Tom Kennedy.

The company, which also will be renting some space in the OC office, concluded “that the Irvine office market appears to be at or close to the bottom, and consequently will start to turn the corner next year,” Kennedy said in a statement.

Real estate acquisitions aren’t the only reason Bethel Native is eyeing OC.

The company counts a number of construction, environmental remediation and engineering subsidiaries, and it is hoping to grab a large chunk of work coming on line at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in the next few years.

Potential Work

As much as $4 billion is expected to be spent in the next several years improving and expanding the 125,000-acre base just south of San Clemente in northern San Diego County.

Projects on tap include a 500,000-square-foot Naval hospital project valued at more than $560 million, according to Defense Department figures.

Due to their federal status, Alaska Native Corporations have received billions of dollars in government contracts in the past decade, much of them in no-bid deals.

The corporations are also able to receive contracts of any size from a federal agency as part of a Small Business Administration program—called SBA 8(a)—for minority and disadvantaged small businesses.

In a normal market, OC sales should make up less than 10% of West Coast sales, according to Shannon, one of the region’s top brokers of large office properties.

In terms of total deals, though, the number of sales for OC offices is down from the rapid turnover seen at the peak of the market.

There were 11 sales of OC offices 25,000 square feet or larger completed in the third quarter, compared to 29 a year earlier and 37 in the third quarter of 2007, according to Newport Beach-based Voit Real Estate Services.

That’s still well above the amount seen in other local markets and is driven in large part by what local real estate officials call the “Maguire Effect.”

Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. amassed an OC portfolio through a $2.9 billion portfolio acquisition in mid-2007, as well as through other acquisitions and new developments. But the rough economy for real estate prompted the landlord to unload a number of those buildings at fractions of their previous values.

Most prominently, Emmes Group of Cos. bought Irvine’s 3161 Michelson tower in June for $160 million, about 40% less than what Maguire paid to build the 19-story tower. The building since has been re-named The Michelson.

Maguire wasn’t the only building owner to sell out because of financial troubles.

OC saw the first big office building in the country trade hands at the behest of the Fed-eral Deposit Insurance Corp. with the former Newport Beach headquarters of failed savings and loan operator Downey financial Corp.

The next big sale expected to close is for an Irvine office tower built in 2007 by bankrupt developer Opus West Corp. of Phoenix.

Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners and Westbrook Partners of San Francisco are expected to close on the property in a few weeks, for about $56 million. The building had more than $80 million in debt tied to it as of July.

Among other building types, Costa Mesa’s South Coast Home Furnishings Centre was sold to Newport Beach-based Burnham USA Equities Inc. in February for about $35 million after the mall’s previous owner defaulted on an $84 million loan.

Expect more distressed sales by midyear next year, according to Shannon and CB Richard Ellis’ Phil Voorhees, senior vice president for the company’s national retail investment group.

The two are heading up a new group for the brokerage that will be focusing on sales of distressed office and retail buildings on the West Coast that are tied to commercial mortgage-backed securities bonds.

Voorhees said he sees a need for experienced brokers to handle these distressed buildings since a number of commercial mortgage-backed securities properties have gone into default already, but aren’t on the market yet.

“The best word to describe the situation is ‘limbo,’” Voorhees said.

There are three big retail properties in Southern California valued at more than $100 million nearing “imminent default,” according to Voorhees. Another six or so local retail properties in the $30 million to $50 million range are in the same boat, he said.

Among retail properties, the lack of sales has made it hard for property owners, Banks and other lenders to best figure out the real value of their buildings.

There’s been more activity on the office side of the market, and recent deals suggest pricing might be showing signs of stabilizing, according to Shannon. There appears to be more capital in the market as of late, which in some cases is driving the prices above where sales were four or so months ago, he said.

Last month’s sale of Downey’s former Bayview Corporate Center campus is one such local example.

The building, which is about one-third occupied, sold for $50 million, or $157 per square foot, according to reports.

That’s at least $20 per square foot above what many local real estate watchers expected the building to trade, because the high vacancy made it less attractive to buyers.

S.K. Hart Properties LC, a real estate company owned by Salt Lake City-based businessman Khosrow Semnani, bought the two-building campus following an auction overseen by the FDIC.

Similar trends are being seen across the country. The prices paid for commercial properties in the U.S. were up 4.4% in the third quarter, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Transactions-based Index of Institutional Commercial Property.

That’s the largest increase seen in the market since the beginning of the downturn in the commercial real estate market began in mid-2007, according to officials at the MIT Center for Real Estate.

The index still is down nearly 37% from the peak of the market.

More pain could be in store if and when commercial mortgage-backed securities properties are put back on the market.

It’s estimated that nearly $300 billion worth of commercial mortgages will mature next year, and another $300 billion will come due in 2011.