Auto Dealership Acquisition
The owner of Norm Reeves Honda Superstore has added to his Cerritos car empire by purchasing three more dealerships in Cerritos Auto Square, the nation’s largest auto sales center.
Dave Conant, who runs Norm Reeves outlets in Cerritos and Huntington Beach, bought Cerritos Ford, Cerritos Lincoln-Mercury & Isuzu and Cerritos Infiniti from owner Ron Gregoire. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Conant’s existing dealership in Cerritos leads the nation in Honda sales, according to Ward’s Dealer Business magazine. The addition of the three other dealerships means Conant now controls about a third of the volume at Cerritos Auto Square.
Kaiser Arbitration Appointment
Los Angeles lawyer Sharon Lybeck Hartmann has been chosen by Kaiser Permanente to administer its controversial private arbitration system.
Kaiser, the nation’s largest health maintenance organization, was rebuked by the California Supreme Court last year for allegedly delaying arbitration of a dispute from a patient dying of lung cancer until after the patient’s death. Kaiser announced last week that it has settled that case on undisclosed terms.
Kaiser, which mandates that disputes be handled through binding arbitration rather than in the courts, agreed in January to adapt its arbitration system. Before, Kaiser lawyers chose a private arbitrator, and could easily delay the process by selecting someone who was unavailable. Under the new system, plaintiffs can choose from a list of arbitrators whose records on past Kaiser cases will be available.
Hartmann’s firm will be paid $2 million under a two-year contract with Kaiser. It is working on assembling a panel of 200 arbitrators across the state.
Hollywood Park Bids for Players
Hollywood Park Inc. has offered to pay $210 million in cash for a company that owns riverboat casinos in Illinois and Louisiana, but received a lukewarm response from its acquisition target.
Atlantic City-based Players International Inc., which has unofficially been on the sales block for more than a year, said only that several other parties are pursuing a deal and it will consider any reasonable offer. Hollywood Park Chairman R.D. Hubbard responded by issuing a public statement last week expressing disappointment in Players International’s reaction.
Hollywood Park is offering to buy all the common stock of Players for $6 a share, plus assume about $140 million in debt. Before the offer was announced, Players stock was trading at $5 a share.
Mattel Gift for Hospital
UCLA Children’s Hospital received its largest donation to date when El Segundo-based Mattel Inc. pledged $25 million toward construction of a new state-of-the-art facility that is set to open in 2004.
The new hospital will be named the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, and Mattel will design its lobby. The donation was apparently spearheaded by entertainment executive Michael Ovitz, who is friends with Mattel Chairwoman and Chief Executive Jill Barad, according to UCLA officials. Ovitz chairs the board of UCLA Medical Sciences and heads up the fund-raising arm for the university’s medical centers.
“Improving the lives of children has always been a stated priority for Mattel,” said Barad in a prepared statement. “This gift demonstrates our commitment.”
Living Wage Law Strengthened
In an effort targeted at airlines at Los Angeles International Airport, the City Council has voted to strengthen enforcement of the living wage ordinance and deleted language that may have allowed workers to earn less than the minimum wage if they are paid with federal grant funds.
Airline officials are reviewing the city’s action to determine whether it violates federal law, which prohibits local agencies from enacting laws that affect the routes, rates and services of an airline.
Under the living wage ordinance, municipal contractors must be paid at least $7.39 per hour with benefits or $8.64 without.
Davis Picks Munitz
Barry Munitz, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust and former chancellor of the California State University system, has been chosen to head the transition team for Gov.-elect Gray Davis.
Davis said he chose Munitz because of his status as an educator, as a signal of the high priority his administration will give to education reform. Munitz will continue to run the Getty and said he has no intention of taking a permanent job with the Davis administration.
Shamrock Flexes Muscle
Roy E. Disney’s investment firm Shamrock Capital Advisers Inc. is trying to wrest control of a high-profile New Zealand investment group from its managers, engineering the ouster of three directors who opposed a deal with Shamrock.
Shamrock has offered to invest $100 million in Brierley Investments Ltd. in return for management control. The plan is strongly opposed by founder Sir Ron Brierley, although shareholders signaled their approval of the deal by ousting the three Brierley board members.
Brierley, which reported a loss last year, is New Zealand’s most widely owned company. It controls a variety of properties from newspapers to hotels.
Discovery for Unocal
Unocal Corp. has announced the discovery of a new natural gas field in the Gulf of Thailand.
Timing for the development of the South Gomin field will depend on market demand, company officials said. South Gomin is the second new commercial field added in the Gulf of Thailand this year.
Anna and the King of Malaysia?
A remake of the popular story of Anna and the King of Siam won’t be filmed in the country formerly known as Siam Thailand because of continual objections by the Thai government about the filmmakers’ treatment of the revered former monarch Rama IV.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. has instead opted to move the production to Malaysia, after trying for five months to convince the Thai Film Board to approve a script.
Fox’s version of the story, which has been the subject of two Hollywood films and the Rogers and Hammerstein musical “The King and I,” is tentatively titled “Anna and the King.” It is slated to star Jodie Foster and Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat, whose former roles as a gangster were part of the reason the Thai Film Board found the project so objectionable.
Compiled by Dan Turner
