IMPCO Technologies Inc., based in Cerritos, said June 28 that it plans to reorganize the company and create a new holding company, Fuel Systems Solutions Inc., of which Impco will be a subsidiary. After approval by shareholders and the reorganization, Impco will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuel Systems that will be based in Delaware. The company expects Fuel Systems to trade under the ticker symbol “FSYS.”
Impco shareholders will receive one common share of Fuel Systems for every two common shares of Impco. Shareholders will receive cash for fractional shares. Outstanding warrants and options to buy Impco common shares will become warrants and options to buy one share of the new company for every two shares of Impco.
Shareholders Sue Univision
Los Angeles-based Univision Communications Inc. is facing two shareholder lawsuits aimed at blocking acquisition of the nation’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster by an investor group led by billionaire Haim Saban.
Univision’s board of directors on June 26 approved Saban’s $12.3 billion bid. By announcing the agreement three days before a June 30 preliminary second-quarter earnings report, the company denied shareholders the full value of their investment, claims a suit filed June 28 in Los Angeles County Superior Court by shareholder Spencer Abrams.
“The proposed acquisition is the product of a hopelessly flawed process that was designed to ensure the sale of Univision to one buying group, and one buying group only, on terms preferential to the buying group,” the suit said. Abrams is seeking class action status for his suit.
A second shareholder suit, filed June 27 in Los Angeles Superior Court, also claims Univision failed to give adequate consideration to competing offers.
Univision has not yet commented on the suits.
Ameron Sells Coatings Unit
Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries Inc., the world’s second largest maker of auto paint, said on June 29 that it has agreed to purchase Ameron International Corp.’s coatings unit for $115 million.
Pasadena-based Ameron unit employs about 700 people in the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand and had sales of $210 million in 2005. PPG said the deal also includes Ameron’s 40 percent stake in Oasis-Ameron Ltd., of Saudi Arabia. Ameron added that the deal should be finalized within 45 days.
Shares of PPG rose $1.65 a share to $65.31. They have gained 24 percent over the past year. Pasadena-based Ameron jumped nearly $4 a share to close at $65.05. The shares have more than doubled in the past year.
Vitesse Dropped From Nasdaq
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. dropped off the Nasdaq National Market on June 28 for failure to meet the stock exchange’s listing requirements.
The Camarillo-based chip maker is under investigation by federal prosecutors in the State of New York and by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the times of its stock option grants. Vitesse failed to meet a May 10 deadline to file financial statements for the quarter ending March 31 due to an ongoing investigation by a special committee of its board of directors.
Vitesse said in a statement it was committed to complying with all Nasdaq listing requirements and obtaining a relisting. Vitesse said its common stock would trade on the Pink Sheets, and has been informed that certain market makers will continue to make a market in Vitesse stock. Shares listed at $1.45 on Wednesday.
Red Line Gets Boost
Local transit officials on June 29 approved funding for major studies of a proposed Red Line subway extension to the ocean, a light rail connector through downtown Los Angeles and a tunnel for the northward extension of the Long Beach (710) Freeway, among other projects.
The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to approve a “major investment study” of the long-proposed 13.2-mile Red Line subway extension from the current terminus at Western Avenue to the ocean. The line would be built in two segments costing about $2.5 billion each: one to Century City and the other from Century City to Santa Monica.
The MTA board also voted to study a proposed $723 million “regional connector” that would go underneath downtown Los Angeles, hooking up the Long Beach Blue Line, the Pasadena Gold Line, the Eastside Extension now under construction and the Exposition light rail line slated to begin construction later this year.
Among the 19 other studies approved by the MTA board was one for a controversial tunnel project that would extend the Long Beach (710) Freeway from its current terminus at Valley Boulevard in Alhambra to the Foothill (210) Freeway in Pasadena. Residents of South Pasadena have for decades resisted attempts for a surface extension.
— ALLEN ROBERTS Jr., DEBORAH CROWE, HOWARD FINE
