Purchase Price

Centennial Beneficial Corp. of Orange said it is has amended its agreement to acquire Tustin-based Sunwest Bank, slashing the purchase price by nearly one-third, to $10.75 million, or $50.75 a share. Centennial, a publicly owned bank holding company formed in 1981, last year had offered $16 million, or $75.50 per share, for Sunwest, which has five offices and more than $150 million in assets.

The Seattle group attempting to buy the Sacramento Kings says it has reached agreement to raise the purchase price by $25 million. Chris Hansen, who is teaming with Steve Ballmer to lead the group, announced the decision to raise the valuation late Friday night. In a statement on his website, Sonicsarena.com, Hansen says the group has voluntarily raised the purchase price as a "sign of our commitment to bring basketball back to our city. " Hansen's group entered into a binding agreement with the Maloof family in January to purchase the controlling interest of the franchise based on a $525 million value.

Discovery Associates reported Monday that it has renegotiated the price it paid in December for Leo's Stereo. As previously reported, Encino-based Discovery had sought to renegotiate the terms of its acquisition because of unexpectedly large returns of a defective car stereo made in Korea for Leo's Jet Sound Division. In previous filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Discovery reported that the initial purchase price was to be $34.5 million in cash, stock and notes.

The Angels have launched their own ticket resale program, hoping to help season-seat holders save a few bucks while reducing the number of cut-rate tickets available on third-party websites. The Angels and New York Yankees are the only two of the 30 teams to opt out of an agreement between Major League Baseball and Stub Hub. The Angels had grown frustrated as fans realized they often could buy a cheaper ticket from Stub Hub than from the team itself. "What we're trying to accomplish is to build pricing integrity back into the secondary marketplace," said Robert Alvarado, the Angels' vice president of marketing and ticket sales.

FHP Corp., a health maintenance organization that came under bitter attack last year when it became a for-profit corporation, is planning a public stock offering that would value the company at as much as $225 million--or about six times the price that its new owners paid seven months ago. The company, based in Fountain Valley, converted from its nonprofit status last November, and a management group bought it for $38.6 million.

Digitalk Inc., a software programming company, said Monday that it has agreed to merge with a Sunnyvale competitor in a stock swap tentatively worth $47.5 million that will give the surviving company 80% of the market for basic computer language programs. The privately held Digitalk will merge with ParcPlace Systems Inc., creating a new company called ParkPlace-Digitalk Inc., based in Sunnyvale.

Four of Ventura County's largest cities stand to benefit from a new state law that will directly funnel sales tax revenue from auto leases to city treasuries, officials said Thursday. The new law, authored by state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), mandates that 1% of the purchase price of auto leases be returned to the city where the lease transaction occurred, said John Theiss, an aide to Wright.

Looking for new ways to hasten the quake recovery, Los Angeles Councilman Hal Bernson urged state lawmakers Monday to provide tax incentives for investors who put money into quake-damaged neighborhoods. Bernson, who represents the northwestern San Fernando Valley, pitched the idea to Los Angeles-based federal and state lawmakers and their representatives who attended a meeting of the City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Earthquake Recovery.

In their rush to acquire land for a proposed indoor sports arena, Anaheim officials paid $3.2 million for property that was appraised at less than half that price, City Councilman Irv Pickler said Thursday. Pickler said he believes that Anaheim has approved too much money--more than $21 million to date--to acquire land for a facility that may never house a professional sports team.

Pacific Inland Bank and its parent company agreed Wednesday to settle a lawsuit accusing it of helping four investors operate an extensive scheme to buy $260 million in securities without the cash to pay for them. The Anaheim bank and Pacific Inland Bancorp will pay a $50,000 penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and promised not to violate securities laws in the future. The settlement is part of an SEC lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in New York City.

Re "Rethinking Prop. 13," Editorial, Dec. 6 Proposition 30 raises taxes on everyone, landed and landless. That's fair. Nevertheless, the only part of Proposition 13 that should be revisited is the two-thirds vote requirement to legislate taxes. The 1% cap on the purchase price must be left alone. In California, property changes hands so often that there is no shortage of revenue. To go back to the days of levying taxes based on current market value would increase costs of administration and would be unfair to those who don't flip houses for sport.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the pioneering rocket engine manufacturing business in the San Fernando Valley, has been sold by its parent company of seven years to Sacramento aerospace and technology firm GenCorp Inc. for $550 million. The sale of Rocketdyne to GenCorp marks the combination of two iconic California rocket companies - and longtime competitors. GenCorp also owns Aerojet, the Sacramento aerospace firm founded in 1942. The deal is the latest chapter of consolidation in the aerospace industry, which has unfolded over the last two decades and has cost tens of thousands of jobs throughout the Southland.

If you buy a dog from a pet store or commercial breeder, California's so-called Puppy Lemon Law gives you some protections in case the animal becomes ill shortly after purchase. The law, officially known as the Pet Breeder Warranty Act, applies to cases in which the purchased dog gets sick due to an illness or disease that existed within 15 days of purchase. It also applies if problems arise in the first year after the sale because of a congenital or hereditary condition. If you want to keep the dog, the law entitles you get your money back from the seller plus up to an additional 50% of the purchase price for veterinary costs.

Sycamore Partners is buying Talbots Inc. for $369-million, plus debt -- a steal considering that the struggling women's retailer had snubbed earlier, higher bids. The private equity firm will take over Talbots for $2.75 a share in a board-approved deal expected to close in the third quarter. Last week, Sycamore walked away from talks with the retailer after offering $3.05 a share. In early May, Talbots had sniffed that a $3-a-share proposal was “inadequate.” Why the change of heart?

DaVita Inc., whose biggest shareholder is billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., agreed to pay about $4.42 billion in cash and stock to acquire HealthCare Partners, continuing an international spending spree on providers of medical care. DaVita, a U.S. provider of kidney dialysis services, will pay about $3.66 billion in cash, plus 9.38 million shares of its stock, which had a value of $758 million as of May 18, for closely held HealthCare Partners, the companies said.

The Mega millions jackpot has soared to $640 million. Imagine what you could buy with that kind of money -- a medium-sized island, a lifetime supply of In-N-Out for a small country, or even a share of a sports team. Magic Johnson was part of a group that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record $2.15 billion. If you win the lottery, you could own 31.2% of the team. Before the Dodgers deal, the previous record for the purchase price of an American sports team belonged to the Miami Dolphins, which sold for $1.1 billion in 2009.

If you buy a dog from a pet store or commercial breeder, California's so-called Puppy Lemon Law gives you some protections in case the animal becomes ill shortly after purchase. The law, officially known as the Pet Breeder Warranty Act, applies to cases in which the purchased dog gets sick due to an illness or disease that existed within 15 days of purchase. It also applies if problems arise in the first year after the sale because of a congenital or hereditary condition. If you want to keep the dog, the law entitles you get your money back from the seller plus up to an additional 50% of the purchase price for veterinary costs.

How much would you have to pay each month to buy a $175,000 "starter" home in the Southland? How much would you have to earn to qualify for the loan? How big a down payment would you be required to make? There are no hard-and-fast answers to these questions: Much depends on what type of loan you choose, which lender you're working with and what interest rate you'll be charged. The Times asked experts at the California Mortgage Bankers Assn.

Magic Johnson cannot become the face of the Dodgers until the sale of the team closes, which is scheduled for April 30. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court is set to approve the sale agreement on April 13. Major League Baseball retains the right to review the deal, because the $2.15-billion purchase price for the team far exceeds the figure proposed by the Johnson group earlier in the bidding. MLB will scrutinize the structure of the transaction, with its mix of individual and institutional investors, but the league is not expected to challenge the deal.

Chapman University increased its purchase price for the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral campus by $1.5 million to a total price of $51.5 million, and creditors officially designated the school as the preferred buyer of the Garden Grove property in court documents filed Monday. The filings made clear why the church and its creditors support Chapman's plan over a $53.6-million offer by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. In some documents, cathedral attorneys argued that the diocese offer, which would require the Crystal Cathedral to seek a new place for worship within three years, was financially risky to the ministry and the weekly "Hour of Power" broadcast.