Hair Transplant, Boy Band and Tie Deals Reveal L.A.’s Depth
By DANNY KING
Staff Reporter
Short on glamour and glitz, some of the more interesting deals of 2001 reflected the diversity of L.A.’s economy.
In a match that showed male vanity knows no international boundaries, Aderans Co. Ltd. paid $45 million for Beverly Hills-based Bosley Medical in August. The marriage of the Tokyo-based wig and hair tonic conglomerate and the local hair transplant firm is as natural as the two companies’ solutions claim to appear.
Aderans gets a firm that generates $55 million in annual revenues, while Bosley will use its new parent’s resources to take its mane-multiplying methods worldwide.
A hedge against the potential fading of the casual dress movement was behind Los Angeles-based Superba Inc. buying out San Diego-based handmade tie producer Ferrell Reed for an undisclosed amount.
In addition to adding $3 million to Superba’s $100 million annual revenue base, Ferrell Reed gives the company a greater foothold in the high-end tie market. Most Superba’s ties are sold under brand titles like Tommy Hilfiger and Arrow, and retail in the $25 to $45 range. Ferrell Reed ties, long a fixture in stores like Nordstrom, sell for as much as $80.
One technology firm that saw its fortunes lifted in 2001 was Rapiscan Security Products Inc., which found itself in the right place for the wrong reasons.
Since Sept. 11, Rapiscan, a unit of Hawthorne-based OSI Systems Inc., has sold a dozen of the $115,000, refrigerator-sized body scanners five to the Federal Aviation Administration for product testing, and three to Mexican airports.
There was plenty of show business dealmaking not all of it involving the Vivendis and Disneys of the world.
Consider Na-Na, the popular Russian boy band that became Dick Clark Productions Inc.’s first signing at its new record label, Access Records.
Or the deal struck between House of Blues and Nederlander Producing Co. of America over operations of the Greek Theatre. The two companies will share promotions and marketing duties for the Griffith Park venue, with House of Blues in charge of programming.
Though Nederlander had been given a five-year contract extension to run the Greek in 1999, House of Blues claimed its bid was not properly considered, even filing a lawsuit that was dismissed in June.
In sports, Time Warner Cable balked at paying increased license fees to Fox Sports Net for broadcasting rights of Dodger games, causing 350,000 local cable recipients to have 40 games blacked out. Fox retaliated by rolling out a $1 million advertising campaign including slogans like “Rolling blackout? Try permanent blackout.”
Meanwhile, as part of the development of Staples II, L.A. Arena Land Co. partners Philip Anschutz and Rupert Murdoch struck up a friendship with the Figueroa Corridor Coalition for Economic Justice, which represents 200,000 area residents as well as a number of local unions. The parties came to a mid-year agreement on a number of issues involving the mixed-use project, including a living wage agreement as well as affordable housing, safety and open space provisions.
And then there was prosthetics.
United States Manufacturing Co., a prosthetics maker, said it would to relocate its headquarters to Washington State following its $19 million buyout of Seattle Orthopedic Group. The 54-year-old Pasadena company employed 100 people locally.
