Danzi Capital Group

A top corporate finance executive has left Cruttenden & Co. to start his own investment banking firm that will help raise capital for biomedical and small technology companies in Orange County. Michael Danzi, 33, recently formed Danzi Capital Group in Irvine, which will specialize in raising cash for technology companies through private equity or debt offerings. "This area is a real hotbed of activity," Danzi said Wednesday.

Two Orange County investment banking companies that acted for awhile as if they wanted to merge now say they will continue to work together through a joint venture but have no intention of becoming one company. Larry Friend and Michael Danzi said their companies will work on major deals, like the effort to sell a minority shareholder's stock in the Irvine Co., through a division of L.H. Friend, Weinress & Frankson Inc. But Friend and Danzi said each company will continue to operate separately.

Two Orange County investment banking companies that acted for awhile as if they wanted to merge now say they will continue to work together through a joint venture but have no intention of becoming one company. Larry Friend and Michael Danzi said their companies will work on major deals, like the effort to sell a minority shareholder's stock in the Irvine Co., through a division of L.H. Friend, Weinress & Frankson Inc. But Friend and Danzi said each company will continue to operate separately.

Two Irvine investment banks are joining forces to participate in larger financings, but both say they will continue raising capital for biomedical and other small technology companies. Michael Danzi, president of Danzi Capital Group, an investment bank formed a year ago, is joining L.H. Friend, Weinress & Frankson Inc. and taking his five-person staff with him. Danzi will be managing director of a new wholly owned division called L.H. Friend-Danzi Capital Partners, company officials said.

Two Irvine investment banks are joining forces to participate in larger financings, but both say they will continue raising capital for biomedical and other small technology companies. Michael Danzi, president of Danzi Capital Group, an investment bank formed a year ago, is joining L.H. Friend, Weinress & Frankson Inc. and taking his five-person staff with him. Danzi will be managing director of a new wholly owned division called L.H. Friend-Danzi Capital Partners, company officials said.

A California investment fund has purchased a $4.8-million stake in the privately held Irvine Co., Orange County's largest landowner. Last May, Howard P. Marguleas, an Irvine Co. director since 1977, said he was selling his 5.05% minority stake in the land company. Marguleas is chairman of Sun World International, a Bakersfield-based agricultural firm in bankruptcy. The investment fund, which was not named by Marguleas, bought 12 shares for $4.8 million, or $400,000 a share.

In an unusual investment move, Claremont McKenna College, a tiny, private liberal arts school near Pomona, has purchased a $5-million stake in Irvine Co., Orange County's largest landowner. Earlier this year in a confidential prospectus sent to potential investors, Howard P. Marguleas, an Irvine Co. director since 1977, said he was selling his 5.05% minority stake in the privately held company--shares for which he was seeking about $94 million--to raise money he needed to meet other obligations.

A hospital chain has bought 12 shares of Irvine Co. stock at $400,000 each, seizing a rare opportunity to grab a stake in Orange County's largest landowner. The nation's second-largest Catholic-owned hospital chain, Catholic Healthcare West of San Francisco, purchased the Irvine Co. stock for a total of $4.8 million.

Billionaire land baron Donald L. Bren has quietly bought all outstanding shares in the Irvine Co., increasing his stake to 100% from 92% in a deal worth at least $80 million. Some outside investors who had bought stock in Orange County's largest landowner at $400,000 a share recently received offers from Bren, the Irvine Co. chairman, to purchase the stock at $425,000 per share.

In one of the brightest economic reports for California in years, government officials said Friday that the state gained 19,000 jobs last month while its unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, from 8.8% in November. For all of 1995, California's job total climbed 178,200 to nearly 12.4 million, easily the state's best year since 1989. To many analysts, the numbers suggested that California's economic recovery is accelerating despite lackluster business growth nationally.

A top corporate finance executive has left Cruttenden & Co. to start his own investment banking firm that will help raise capital for biomedical and small technology companies in Orange County. Michael Danzi, 33, recently formed Danzi Capital Group in Irvine, which will specialize in raising cash for technology companies through private equity or debt offerings. "This area is a real hotbed of activity," Danzi said Wednesday.

Fred Kayne, president of Fortune Fashions in Commerce, doesn't have to be told that unemployment is going down in Southern California. He's helping to bring that about. As co-owner of the firm that makes souvenir apparel for tourist locations, he has boosted his work force to 500 this year--including 150 skilled workers--from 400 a year ago.

A lot of brokers and investors hope he's wrong, but market watcher Dan Sullivan doesn't think Thursday's record-breaking stock market will hold up very long. Sullivan, who publishes the respected Chartist newsletter that tracks Wall Street trends, said he sees the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 4,003.33 as "the last gasp of a bull market," and not the beginning of a new boom. "I'm not impressed," the Huntington Beach analyst said of the record close.