ON SALE: 99-Cent Only Stores has appointed a committee to evaluate a private equity-backed management buyout and any potential competing offers. The Commerce-based discount retailer received a bid from the Schiffer-Gold family, which includes leading company executives, to take the company private for $1.34 billion in cash with backing from West L.A.-based Leonard Green & Partners L.P. The Schiffer-Gold family, which owns about 33 percent, is partnering with the Santa Monica private equity firm to offer other shareholders $19.09 per share, a 14 percent premium to the stock’s closing price March 10, before the offer was first disclosed.

DRUG DEALS: Amgen Inc. has acquired privately held Brazilian drug developer Bergamo for about $215 million. The Thousand Oaks biotech giant also reacquired rights to market several Amgen drugs in South American country. Sao Paulo-based Bergamo supplies medicines to the Brazilian hospital sector and reported $80 million in revenue last year. Amgen also reached a separate agreement with another company, Hypermarcas, to reacquire rights to several drugs it had previously licensed for the Brazilian market. Amgen Chief Executive Kevin Sharer said Brazil is expected to be the world’s fifth largest pharmaceutical market by 2015.

BANK BUY: City National Bank has acquired the assets and deposits of Nevada Commerce Bank, a Las Vegas institution that was closed by federal regulators. City National, owned by downtown L.A.’s City National Corp., agreed to acquire all $145 million of the failed bank’s assets, including two branch locations to reopen as City National offices. Additionally, the acquiring bank paid a premium of 0.71 percent to assume Nevada Commerce’s $136 million in deposits. The deal will bring City National’s Nevada branch network to 12 and is City National’s fourth failed-bank acquisition in the past two years. Previously, the bank bought Sun West Bank, 1st Pacific Bank of California and Imperial Capital Bank.

LOBBYIST LEAVES: The top lobbyist for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce will be leaving next month to join a business consulting firm in Pasadena. Sam Garrison, vice president of public policy for the chamber for the last five years, will be joining High Lantern Group, a two-year-old firm that provides strategic advice and communication services for companies. He will start in mid-May, right after the chamber’s annual lobbying trip to Washington, D.C.

TERMS TALKS: MPG Office Trust has placed mortgage loans on the U.S. Bank Tower and a second downtown L.A. high-rise in special-servicing status, a move that will allow the troubled real estate investment trust to renegotiate terms of the buildings’ debt. The 72-story tower, at 633 W. Fifth St., has a mortgage that totals $250 million. The second building, the 54-story Wells Fargo Tower at 333 S. Grand St., has a $550 million mortgage and is part of the Wells Fargo Center.

SALE CLOSED: HCP Inc. has announced that it closed the acquisition of 334 nursing homes and assisted-living facilities from HCR ManorCare for $6.1 billion in cash. As expected, HCP also signed a long-term master lease under which Toledo, Ohio-based HCR ManorCare will continue to operate the facilities, which are primarily in the Midwest and along the East Coast. HCP sold stock and debt to fund the purchase. The triple-net lease requires HCR to handle the taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities and other expenses on the properties.

SHOOTS, SCORES: After months of negotiations with the owner of the Detroit Pistons, billionaire investor Tom Gores has reached a deal to buy the struggling pro basketball franchise. The acquisition, which still must be approved by the National Basketball Association, includes the Palace of Auburn Hills arena, DTE Energy Music Theatre and the operating rights to Meadow Brook Music Festival. Financial terms were not disclosed. In January, Forbes magazine estimated that the Pistons were worth $360 million. Gores, chief executive of Beverly Hills investment firm Platinum Equity, had been negotiating since at least January with owner Karen Davidson, who took control of the team after the 2009 death of her husband, Bill.

BUILDING SALE: Former CAA head Michael Ovitz and partners have agreed to sell the Beverly Hills headquarters of Live Nation to commercial real estate investment firm Tishman Speyer Properties. Ovitz co-owns the 9348 Civic Center Drive building with Bob Goldman, CAA’s former chief financial officer, and Bill McGregor, a real estate developer, through their Beverly Hills Ice House Investment Ltd. business entity. The four-story building – named the Ice House for its original use as an ice storage facility – dates to 1925 and was turned into a modern office property in 1995. The building is expected to change hands for between $20 million and $25 million.

RADIO BUY: Magic Johnson Enterprises and Yucaipa Cos., both based in Los Angeles, are buying three Phoenix FM radio stations: Spanish-English pop station 95.1 KVIB, hip-hop station 98.3 KKFR and alternative station 103.9 KEXX. The stations will operate under the name Riviera Broadcasting LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GIVEBACK: After numerous failed attempts to overhaul Valley Plaza mall in North Hollywood, developer J.H. Snyder Co. has handed the 23-acre site back to lender iStar. The New York commercial lender and real estate investment trust took possession of the site about two weeks ago. Snyder acquired Valley Plaza, at the southwest corner of Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards, more than a decade ago. A succession of renovation proposals, including a $333 million planned makeover to add department stores, restaurants and retail shops, never moved forward.