GOING EAST: Live Nation Entertainment Inc. continues to expand in Asia, signing a joint-venture agreement with B’In Music International to form Live Nation Taiwan. The Beverly Hills concert and artist promoter, which now operates in 10 Asian countries, said the joint venture will be based in Taipei. Its first collaboration will be a North American and European tour by Mayday, a Taiwanese rock band.
LOCAL INVESTMENT: Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc. has added to its Southern California portfolio. The Beverly Hills real estate investment company acquired Victory Plaza, a 132,995-square-foot, 1970s-era retail center in North Hollywood, in a deal valued at $30 million. The company also was part of a partnership that acquired a 175,000-square-foot Class A office complex at 245 S. Los Robles Ave. in Pasadena for $39 million.
CLOSURES: Six of the 11 markets to be closed by Albertsons in Southern California are in Los Angeles County. The grocery chain, owned by an investor group led by New York’s Cerberus Capital Management, will complete the closures of the underperforming stores by the end of February. Closed local groceries are in Long Beach, Whittier, Monrovia, Woodland Hills, Valencia and Canyon Country. Stores in Moorpark, Huntington Beach, Ontario, Chula Vista and San Diego also are slated to close. After the closures, about a dozen stores will remain in the region.
MERGED: Allied Beverages Inc., a large family-owned beer distributor in Sylmar, has been purchased by the largest company in the industry, Reyes Beverage Group, a unit of Reyes Holdings of Rosemont, Ill. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry experts have estimated its value at about $225 million. Mark Smith, president of Reyes’ Harbor Distributing in Anaheim, will take over as president of Allied, which has been in business for three decades.
FINANCING: Burbank’s Cast & Crew Entertainment Services has started a division to provide government incentive-backed financing for film and TV productions. The Burbank payroll services firm has hired Deirdre Owens, formerly senior vice president of finance at Grosvenor Park Media in Los Angeles, to lead the division, which will assist in providing loans for productions that are collateralized by incentives such as tax credits, rebates and grants.
AIRPORT CRIME: Crime at Los Angeles International Airport jumped 10 percent last year, led by a jump in property crimes, Los Angeles World Airports announced. Much of the increase can be attributed to a shift in how officials track crime, airport officials said. But police union officials said a decrease in the number of police patrolling LAX might also be a factor. The number of arrests rose 17 percent.
MORE QUESTIONS: Herbalife, under fire for more than a year for its multilevel marketing business model by a high-profile Wall Street hedge fund manager, has now caught the attention of U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who sent letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, urging them to look into the downtown L.A. nutritional supplement maker. Markey also wrote Herbalife Chief Executive Michael Johnson, seeking more information about the company.
MERGER: Kaufman + Bernstein Inc. in Century City announced it has merged with West L.A.’s RBZ, one of the largest accounting and business management firms based in Los Angeles County. The deal adds 19 new members to RBZ’s business management practice, including K&B founders Roy D. Kaufman and Howard M. Bernstein, both certified public accountants. In the Business Journal’s most recent list of largest local accounting firms, RBZ ranked No. 22, based on number of accounting professionals. It currently has 140 employees and 16 partners.
