TAX TIFF: Bottled-water company Fiji Water has reopened its bottling facility in the South Pacific island nation for which it is named after a standoff over taxes. The company, owned by L.A. billionaire investors Lynda and Stewart Resnick, closed in response to a tax hike. For 20 years, Fiji Water has been tapping an island aquifer and paying a tax of one-third of a cent per liter. The Fiji government wants 15 cents per liter for large bottlers and the Resnicks agreed to pay.
EXIT APPROVED: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. has won a judge’s approval to reorganize under the management of Spyglass Entertainment Group Inc. and billionaire Carl Icahn, removing the last hurdle to exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in New York confirmed the Century City studio’s prepackaged bankruptcy less than a month after the studio filed for Chapter 11. Shareholders will lose their equity and more than $5 billion in claims will convert to 99 percent ownership of the reorganized company.
MLK CONTRACT: A joint venture lead by Pasadena construction company Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has won a $355 million contract to renovate South L.A.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center, which closed inpatient services in 2007 after a series of patient deaths. The project includes remodeling the inpatient tower and building a 130,000-square-foot ambulatory care center. The contract was awarded to MLK Partners, a joint venture of Jacobs Jenkins/Gales & Martinez, and Jensen and Partners.
NO SLASH: Guns N’ Roses lead singer Axl Rose has sued Activision Blizzard Inc. for $20 million over the video game developer’s use of the song “Welcome to the Jungle” in “Guitar Hero III.” The suit alleges that the Santa Monica company tricked Rose into authorizing use of the song by promising not to use any likeness of former lead guitarist Slash, who left the band in 1996. The game features an animated character that sports distinctive curly black hair, top hat and dark glasses reminiscent of Slash.
BOARD BATTLE: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has sent a letter to shareholders urging them to vote for its board nominees at this month’s annual meeting Dec. 15, rather than a rival slate proposed by dissident shareholder Carl Icahn. Icahn, who has accumulated nearly 33 percent of shares, wants to replace the Santa Monica studio’s five current board members, including Co-Chairman Harold Ludwig, with a slate that includes Chris McGurk, a former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. chief operating officer who has been advising the billionaire investor in his attempted hostile takeover of Lions Gate, which is headquartered in Santa Monica and Vancouver.
CRACKDOWN: Federal agents in Los Angeles have seized the domain names of five websites suspected of offering illegal downloads of copyrighted movies, music, television programs and computer software, marking the first seizure of its kind in the L.A. area. The local seizure was part of a federal “Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0,” crackdown of 82 commercial websites nationwide accused of selling and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The five Internet domain names disabled locally are Torrent-Finder.com, RapGodFathers.com, Rmx4u.com, Dajaz1.com and OnSmash.com.
HOLDING SOLD: Westwood-based Gores Group LLC has signed a deal to sell its European power device company Vincotech Holdings Sàrl to Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Terms were not disclosed but Gores paid Tyco Electronics Ltd. $100 million in 2007 for Vincotech, which manufactures and distributes power modules used in general industrial machines and solar power systems. Unterhaching, Germany-based Vincotech is expected to have roughly $75 million in sales this year.
NO DEBIT: Reality show stars Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian have cancelled plans to have their images appear on a prepaid debit MasterCard from a finance company criticized for its excessively high fees. The card, which launched last month, costs users $7.75 a month to maintain and includes a $1 fee to add money as well as $2 per transaction to pay the bill automatically. The Calabasas sisters have parlayed their “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” show into a variety of modeling, celebrity endorsements and other businesses.
FINAL APPROVALS: California United Bank and California Oaks State Bank have said they have received all regulatory approvals necessary for their previously announced merger. Thousand Oaks-based California Oaks will be merged into Encino-based California United in a $17.3 million cash-and-stock deal. The deal needed approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the California Department of Financial Institutions. California Oaks shareholders will receive about $11.35 per share in the form of stock, cash or a combination of cash and stock.
CORRECTION: The October Done Deals section published in the Nov. 29 issue misidentified who the brokers represented in a listing involving a 51,000-square-foot office lease at the Burbank Empire center. Scott Katcher of Studley represented the tenant; Patrick Church and Anneke Greco of CB Richard Ellis represented the owner.
