DOLE SALE: Dole Food Co. Inc. has signed an agreement to sell its ripening and distribution businesses in Spain and Portugal to the Compagnie Fruitière Group. The Westlake Village company, the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables, said that the Dole Spain deal is in line with the 2008 sale of its ripening and distribution businesses in France and England to Compagnie Fruitière. Dole holds a noncontrolling 40 percent stake in Compagnie Fruitière, with the founding Fabre family owning the rest of the company. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in November, were not disclosed.
MERGER OK: Nara Bancorp Inc. and Center Financial Corp. have announced that each bank’s shareholders have approved a planned $286 million merger that will create the nation’s largest Korean-American bank. The Koreatown bank holding companies said that about 99 percent of the shares voted by each group of shareholders favored the deal. About 74 percent of Nara’s outstanding stock and 77 percent of Center Financial’s stock were voted. The combined institution is expected to have assets of $5.3 billion and deposits of $4 billion. There will be 45 branches, mostly in California.
KAISER STRIKE: Kaiser Permanente’s L.A.-area employees staged a strike to protest proposed benefit cuts and what they describe as a lack of progress on contract talks. About 2,500 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in Southern California were expected on picket lines as part of a larger work action affecting roughly 300 Kaiser hospitals and clinics in California. The union, which represents 1,700 workers in Los Angeles County, said Kaiser wants to reduce retirement benefits and health care coverage.
GORES BUY: Gores Group has agreed to acquire Alpheus Communications, a Houston company that is one of the largest fiber network and data center operators in Texas. The Westwood investment firm, headed by billionaire financier Alec Gores, said that it will combine Alpheus with an existing Gores portfolio firm, First Communications. Financial terms were not disclosed.
CODA MONEY: Los Angeles electric-vehicle and battery developer Coda Holdings has completed a $147 million funding round. The Series D round brings the total money raised by the company to $300 million. Coda said the money will support this year’s planned U.S. launch of its five-passenger Coda sedan, and additional development of its energy-storage and propulsion systems, which the company plans to sell to other electric-vehicle manufacturers.
ALGAE TIME: OriginOil Inc. has announced a deal with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop algae-fuel standards. The L.A. alternative fuel company, which has developed a proprietary method for extracting oil from algae, said it will work with the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory as part of a larger plan by the government to develop standards for all biomass fuels, including those derived from grasses and plants.
SKYTAG SUED: The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has filed suit against one of the city’s supergraphic sign companies and 21 property owners for erecting a series of multistory vinyl ads around the city. The defendants – Sky Tag Inc., its owner Michael McNeilly, and the property owners – face civil penalties of up to $2,500 per location for each day the ads were in place. The penalties potentially total in the tens of millions of dollars.
STUDIO SPREAD: Paramount Pictures Corp. has unveiled plans for $700 million in improvements including new sound stages and offices for its storied Hollywood lot. About 1.4 million square feet of development would take place over the next two decades at Paramount’s Melrose Avenue headquarters and some adjacent properties, if city officials approve. The internal expansion would create nearly 7,300 jobs during construction and accommodate 5,500 permanent workers at the studio, a studio spokesman said.
STRIKE OUT: Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers confirmed that they had reached a three-year labor contract with Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons, averting a grocery strike that would have idled more than 54,000 workers across Southern California. The union and the three chains reached the deal after months of talks. In a joint statement, Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons said, “We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement agreement with the union that continues to preserve good wages, secure pensions and access to quality, affordable health care – while allowing us to be competitive in the marketplace.” The union negotiators said in a statement, “We have attained our most important goal, which was continuing to provide comprehensive health care to the members and their families.”
