Deals of the Year

High-flying economies tend to produce a euphoric surge of mergers and acquisitions, and that certainly manifested in the Valley region during 2018. From one end of the Valley, where Walt Disney Co. bid for the Fox movie and TV studios, to the other end, where L.A.-based Saban Capital Acquisition Corp. created a three-way merger including Panavision Inc., the B2B strategic takeover business fared well. Amid plenty of multi-million-dollar transactions, the Disney deal stands out as the largest at $71.5 billion. The real estate market also showed strength, particularly in Glendale, where a number of office buildings changed hands. In the largest single-property transaction, a joint venture of Goldman Sachs Private Real Estate and Cruzan paid $93.5 million for the 16-story, 320,000-square-foot office tower at 505 N. Brand Blvd. Nearby, 801 N. Brand Blvd. sold for $53.6 million, and 540 N. Central Ave. sold as part of a $256 million portfolio. But in every deal pipeline, there are a few that don’t work out. For example, Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment Inc. in Van Nuys, bid $890 million to purchase the store locations of Toys R Us in the U.S. and Canada out of bankruptcy. In a statement, Larian said he planned to reinvent each store into a “mini-Disneyland” where “families can spend an entire day.” Toys R Us rebuffed the offer. Another deal that didn’t happen this year was the selection of Santa Clarita – or anywhere on the West Coast – for Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters. Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp. Chief Executive Holly Schroeder summed up the deal-making business in her reaction to the Amazon decision. “Of course, we were disappointed not to be the final choice and believe that we have a lot to offer forward-thinking, growing companies like Amazon,” she wrote in an email to the Business Journal. “We were pleased that the L.A. region made the short list, and we understand the many factors go into site selection decisions that led Amazon to choose East Coast locations for its headquarters expansion.” Amazon announced Crystal City, Virginia and Long Island City, New York as the winning locations.