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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

The Digest: A Roundup of San Fernando News

The Digest: A Roundup of San Fernando News Sitestar Repurchases Common Stock Sitestar Corp., a Sherman Oaks technology investment company, has repurchased approximately 10.6 million shares of its common stock from various shareholders through privately negotiated transactions. The stock repurchase was finalized on Nov. 19. Sitestar’s board had previously authorized the repurchase of 350,000 shares and subsequently authorized the repurchase of an additional 12 million shares. The recent stock repurchase represents about 11.5 percent of Sitestar’s fully diluted total shares outstanding. Dole Divests Honduran Beverage Operations Dole Food Company, Inc. of Westlake Village has announced the divestiture of its 97-percent stake in the Cerveceria Hondurena S.A. beverage operations located in Honduras, through a stock exchange transaction with a subsidiary of South African Breweries PLC. Dole received $537 million of cash, which will result in a pre-tax gain to the company of approximately $375 million. The net proceeds will be primarily used to pay down debt. The move is in line with Dole’s previously announced strategy of divesting itself of non-core assets to concentrate on its core businesses. Cerveceria Hondurena generates annual sales of approximately $250 million and pre-tax earnings of approximately $50 million. In 2002, the reduction of earnings from the divestiture of this business will result in a net dilution to the company’s earnings per share of approximately 22 cents. Costco Gets Deal from Lancaster The Lancaster City Council has voted unanimously to give up about 4.5 acres of Lancaster City Park’s 71 acres to keep Costco, the city’s largest sales-tax generator, from moving to neighboring Palmdale. Costco will now move next to the park from a less central site in west Lancaster. The deal includes 13.6 acres of vacant city land alongside the park as well as tax incentives. Costco will pay nothing for the property. It intends to build a 148,000-square-foot store on the joined parcels, removing about 100 trees in the process. At the same time, the council set aside 26 acres north of downtown for a future park. The council’s package will allow Costco to keep all sales tax revenue in excess of $470,000 annually for seven to eight years, and the city will buy Costco’s existing building for $6 million and re-sell it for $3 million to the mall owner, Retail Value Investment Program. Laemmle Opens Art Film House Laemmle Theaters has opened seven screens at the Fallbrook Mall in West Hills dedicated to independent releases. The 2,000-seat theater and the Armer Theater, which opened this year at Cal State Northridge, will nearly triple the availability of art house films in the Valley. After filing for bankruptcy in August, General Cinemas shuttered its Fallbrook theater and put its building and equipment up for sale. Laemmle jumped at the chance to put a new theater his largest to date in the Valley without having to build from the ground. Pharmavite Earns Industry Honors Pharmavite, manufacturer of Nature Made vitamins and minerals and Nature’s Resource herbal supplements, was recently honored with two industry awards. The company was named the “2001 Manufacturer of the Year” by Nutritional Outlook, a trade magazine serving the dietary supplement industry. Another trade publication, Drug Store News, awarded Pharmavite the “Retail Excellence Award” in the OTC-natural health category. Northridge-based Pharmavite was founded in 1971 by Henry Burdick and Barry Pressman. Today, Pharmavite is a wholly owned subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan. Pharmavite manufactures 19 billion capsules, tablets and soft gels annually. WellPoint Buys CareFirst Thousand Oaks-based HMO WellPoint Health Networks Inc. said on Nov. 20 that it plans to acquire CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of Maryland in a deal worth $1.3 billion. Under the deal, WellPoint will acquire CareFirst after its conversion from a non-profit organization to a for-profit company. WellPoint will pay an estimated $450 million in cash and $850 million in WellPoint common stock. Last month, WellPoint agreed to acquire RightCHOICE, a Missouri-based HMO with an estimated 2.8 million members. WellPoint now serves 54 million members. Chapter 11: Saddled with more than $10 million of debt, the only hospital in the Santa Clarita Valley has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to reach a partial-payment agreement with creditors. Nevertheless, the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia will remain open, with no change in services expected.

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