NEW SUITOR? CKE Restaurants Inc. said that it received another, potentially better buyout bid than an earlier $928 million offer from a Boston private equity firm. The Carpinteria parent of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains did not name the new bidder. Under the terms of its earlier merger agreement with Thomas H. Lee Partners, CKE can negotiate with a new suitor if the bid appears to be superior. Thomas H. Lee, which was among a group of investment firms that in 2006 bought Dunkin’ Brands Inc., in February offered $11.05 per share for CKE.

PARTNERSHIP: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is forming a joint venture with Haim Saban’s private investment group that will help it expand pay television operations in Asia. The Santa Monica independent film and TV studio did not disclose terms but described the deal as an equal partnership with L.A.’s Saban Capital Group, which mostly invests in media and entertainment projects. The Asian operation, called Tiger Gate, currently includes Thrill, a thriller and horror film channel, and Kix, an action movie channel. The Saban investment will enable acquisitions and the launching of new channels.

ACQUISITION: Public Storage has agreed to acquire 30 self-storage facilities, many in the L.A. area, in a deal valued at $189 million. The Glendale real estate investment trust said 28 of the facilities are in Los Angeles and surrounding Southern California communities, boosting its market presence in the region about 20 percent. The remaining buildings are in the Chicago area. Public Storage, which did not identify the sellers, said the deal includes up to $126 million in debt that it will assume.

SOLE WOMAN: K-Swiss Inc. signed a global multiyear endorsement deal with “Biggest Loser” TV fitness trainer Jillian Michaels. The best-selling author, who has a growing number of product endorsements, will represent the Westlake Village athletic shoemaker at promotional events. She also will help develop a product line for

K-Swiss’ California Sports brand. Michaels had been wearing the company’s shoes prior to the

endorsement.

CLEANUP: Twelve companies, most of them local, have agreed to pay $3.9 million toward the cleanup of a San Gabriel Valley Superfund site, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. The site, a 190-acre landfill in Monterey Park run by Operating Industries Inc., accepted hazardous liquid and solid waste from industrial companies from 1948 until it closed in 1984. Since then, the EPA has secured more than $600 million from companies that had disposed waste at the site, using the “polluter pays” provision in federal toxic waste law.

NO HURRY: Maguire Properties Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, appears to be in no hurry to move on an offer from departed founder Robert F. Maguire to take over three of the company’s best properties. Maguire still is the real estate investment trust’s largest shareholder, but left the company in May 2008 and is no longer a director. Maguire’s offer reportedly was discussed by the struggling real estate investment trust’s board last week, but no action was taken. Maguire is interested in KPMG Tower and U.S. Bank Tower, both in downtown Los Angeles, and the Plaza Las Fuentes office complex in Pasadena.

BACKING AWAY: Cable veteran John Malone is resigning from the board of DirecTV and is reducing his voting stake from 24.3 percent to 3 percent, the El Segundo satellite TV company said. Malone will exchange 21.8 million Class B common stock, which confers 15 votes a share, for 26.5 million Class A shares. The transaction is designed to comply with a Federal Communications Commission condition dating back to the acquisition of DirecTV by Malone’s Liberty Media from News Corp. in 2008.

NEW FUNDS: Four months after his high-profile departure from TCW Group Inc., bond fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach launched his mutual funds. Gundlach’s new L.A. firm, DoubleLine Capital, said it would open the DoubleLine Total Return Bond and DoubleLine Emerging Markets Fixed-Income funds after receiving Securities and Exchange Commission clearance. Gundlach was TCW’s chief investment officer until the firm fired him Dec. 4, claiming he had threatened to leave the company and take his team with him.

RED TAPE REMAINS: The Los Angeles Department of City Planning has not done enough to streamline permit processing, according to a follow-up audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel. Four years ago, an audit found the department was inefficient in processing permit applications and recommended a “cradle-to-grave” approach in which one planner handles a case from beginning to end. Greuel said the agency had not yet assigned planners to track cases and that only modest progress has been made in reducing processing times. Currently, an applicant often has to deal with as many as a dozen departments.

REPLACEMENT: Tix Corp. said it fired its chief financial officer but has quickly replaced him. The Studio City event ticket seller said the new CFO, Steve Handy, has held various management roles in high-tech, manufacturing and service companies, and most recently was CFO and corporate secretary at SM&A, a former publicly traded professional services firm. Handy also was once a senior auditor at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He replaced Matthew Natalizio, who was terminated in March for “operational style

differences.”