Joint Ventures

Wyle Electronics said it has formed a joint venture company with Marshall Industries to provide the two computer products distributors with some of the components they market. The joint venture, called Accord Contract Services, will be headquartered in Irvine near Wyle. Accord will coordinate orders from both companies to provide their customers a so-called seamless supply chain.

The giant California Public Employees' Retirement System on Tuesday moved to shore up one of its lackluster investment categories--real estate--by delegating more authority to its new property investment chief. Also Tuesday, the retirement fund confirmed that its assets have topped $100 billion for the first time.

Today, Orange County. Tomorrow, the world? VNA Home Health Systems, the Orange-based nonprofit company that provides visiting nurses and other home health-care services across the county, aims to get into the global market for mail-order drugs. The company, forming a joint venture with Colorado drug maker Golden Pharmaceuticals Inc., has set up the new mail-order firm in Santa Ana, says Gordon Martin, VNA's chief executive.

In a novel alliance between a major newspaper and a telecommunications company, the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Bell Internet Services will jointly offer an Internet access service specifically designed for Southern Californians beginning today. The service aims to attract new users to the Internet, the global computer network that enables people to send e-mail, search databases, participate in online discussions and view multimedia documents via a personal computer and a phone line.

Rockwell Automotive, a unit of Rockwell International Corp., has formed a venture with Suspensions Inc. in Ohio to make air suspension products for trucks and trailers. Rockwell Automotive, which is based in Troy, Mich., said that the new venture, called Rockwell Heavy Vehicle Suspension Systems Inc., expects to market its first products within a year. Ervin VanDenberg, previously Suspensions Inc.'s president, will be president of the new company in Canal Fulton, Ohio, and a member of its board.

American Airlines and British Airways are expected to announce today a wide-ranging alliance that would face close regulatory scrutiny. Competitors are already lining up against any alliance between the carriers, which dominate the transatlantic market with two-thirds of the traffic between the U.S. and Britain. The accord would combine the worldwide reach of British Airways, the biggest international carrier, with American's unparalleled route network in the U.S. and Latin America.

InVitro International has launched a joint marketing venture with Burlington Research Inc., of Burlington, N.C., to measure skin irritation potential of textile chemicals and fabrics. InVitro said the company's irritation evaluation system also is being used by Helene Curtis Industries to screen and test products.

Air Canada and All Nippon Airways Co. signed a code-sharing agreement as part of a plan to capture a larger share of the transpacific market. The carriers said they've asked Japan's Ministry of Transport to allow All Nippon Airways to begin selling seats beginning Aug. 1 on Air Canada's Osaka-to-Vancouver, British Columbia, route. Code sharing helps carriers boost traffic by linking flights in reservation systems.