WESTSIDE
WEST LOS ANGELES
Controlling Stake: MetWest Ventures LLC, a West L.A. investment firm, has taken a majority interest in Reed Connor & Birdwell LLC, another West L.A. investment firm. Richard S. Hollander, chairman-founder of MetWest, will become chairman of RCB. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
BEVERLY HILLS
Bigger HQ: U.S. Digital Gaming Inc., a Beverly Hills-based Internet gambling system operator, has moved to a new and larger office in the city. Digital Gaming’s new address is 301 N. Canon Drive.
Officially Uncorked: Wine shop 90210 Wine + Spirits has opened in Beverly Hills. The new store, at 350 N. Canon Drive, is owned by Aline and Sevag Saghdejian.
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
CALABASAS
Firm Investment: National Technical Systems Inc., a Calabasas engineering services firm, has received $14 million in funding from Mill Road Capital, a Greenwich, Conn., private-equity firm. Mill Road, which invests in publicly traded micro-cap companies, is buying more than 900,000 newly issued shares of National Technical common stock and putting $7 million into a subordinated note. National Technical plans to use the money for one or more acquisitions.
VAN NUYS
New Branch: San Francisco-based Union Bank, N.A., has opened an office in Van Nuys. The new outpost is at 7040 Sepulveda Blvd. Alen Sayadof is branch manager.
CENTRAL AREA
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
U.S. Contract: Aecom Technology Corp., a downtown L.A.-based engineering services firm, has won two contracts from the U.S. General Services Administration. Aecom will provide support services at the Letterkenny U.S. Army Depot near Chambersburg, Pa. The two contracts could be worth $72 million if all options are exercised.
SOUTH BAY
MANHATTAN BEACH
Angel Investment: SeeVolution, a Manhattan Beach firm that tracks real-time website traffic data, has closed $530,000 in angel financing; the company has raised a total of $730,000 from investors. SeeVolution will use the funding for development of new services and expansion.
CORRECTIONS
An article in the June 27 issue headlined “Cable Channel Parent Puts Focus on Debt Deals” should have stated that Hallmark Channel produced more original movies in 2010 than the previous year, not fewer. Also, the channel’s lower costs in 2010 were due to lower interest payments, not lower production expenses. The article also incorrectly stated that William Abbott, the chief executive of Crown Media Holdings Inc., the company that owns the channel, blamed the company’s failure to find a buyer in 2009 on its debt load; it was independent analysts who made those comments. Also, the article incorrectly stated that Hallmark Channel’s plan was to replace some expensive original movies with more economical shows. Company spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said that the partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was designed to augment the channel’s movie programming, not replace it. Tucker originally told the Business Journal that the company’s interest rates were increasing to 12 percent to 14 percent, but later said that the average rate would be 15 percent, so she said it was inaccurate for the article to describe a decrease to 10 percent as slight.
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The article headlined “No Vacancy?” in the July 4 edition incorrectly described the guest policy of a proposed hotel and conference center on the UCLA campus. It would be open only to guests on university-related visits.
