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June 15, 1998
Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. was named by Engineering News Record magazine as the 140th largest construction firm in the nation. Last year Barnhart placed 291st.
Founded in 1983 by Doug Barnhart, Barnhart Inc. is the largest locally owned and operated general contracting and construction management firm in San Diego.
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The Titan Corp. has received a commitment from The Bank of Nova Scotia for an $80 million credit facility. The credit facility includes a $55 million working capital line of credit and a $25 million component dedicated for acquisitions.
"This credit facility represents another significant step forward in Titan's strategy to profitably grow its core businesses and to execute strategic transactions," says Gene Ray, Titan's president and CEO. "The working capital facility will provide the necessary resources for the continued growth of our businesses, and with the acquisition facility, we have enhanced our ability to make strategic acquisitions."
June 12, 1998
Burnham Pacific Properties Inc., an equity real estate investment trust (REIT), has been selected by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to become its exclusive venture partner of non-mall retail properties in the western United States. The parties are negotiating the terms of an agreement that is expected to close on June 30.
Initially, CalPERS plans to contribute some $250 million in existing properties that it currently owns and would make available to the venture an additional $150 million in equity capital. Burnham Pacific would make available some $100 million in equity capital to the venture. Burnham Pacific would become the manager of the venture with authority to acquire, develop, rehabilitate, lease and manage the assets. The venture will focus on non-mall retail assets in the western United States.
"We at CalPERS believe that Burnham Pacific is well positioned to execute our non-mall retail strategy in the western United States," says David Gilbert, Senior Investment for Real Estate at CalPERS. "Burnham Pacific offers us an experienced management team of seasoned professionals, an operating philosophy that is consistent with our objectives, and co-investment capital. We are pleased to be a partner in this venture."
"Burnham Pacific is honored to have been selected by CalPERS as its partner," says J. David Martin, CEO of Burnham Pacific. "We have enjoyed our existing relationship with CalPERS and are looking forward to significantly expanding that relationship in this venture. We believe that strategic relationships like this one between real estate operating companies and the pension fund community is the preferred capital structure of the future."
CalPERS is the nation's largest public pension fund managing assets totaling more than $140 billion. It provides retirement and health benefits to more than one million state and public employees and their families. Further information about CalPERS can be found on their web site at http://www.calpers.ca.gov.
Burnham Pacific Properties is a fully integrated real estate operating company which acquires, rehabilitates, develops and manages retail properties on the West Coast where it is the largest owner of retail centers. Based in San Diego, the company has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento in California, as well as Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. The Company also makes available on a quarterly basis supplemental information which includes property and corporate level detail which is available upon request. More information on Burnham Pacific may be found at http://www.burnhampacific.com or by calling 800-462-5181.
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More than 280 members of the class of 1998, from 40 countries, will participate in United States International University's spring commencement ceremony tomorrow. The 5 p.m. ceremony will take place on the Walter Library lawn at the university's Scripps Ranch campus. If it rains, the ceremony will be moved indoors, to the SportCenter, also on the USIU campus.
About 25 percent of USIU's students are from countries outside the U.S., and they come from more than 70 countries. Some 40 percent of USIU undergraduates are international, giving the local campus the distinction of having the largest percentage of international undergraduates of any U.S. college or university, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Students from the following countries will graduate this Saturday: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Russia/Commonwealth of Independent States, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Yemen.
In keeping with the tradition established in 1993 of inviting an outstanding alumna or alumnus to speak to the graduating class, USIU alumnus Anthony Daniels will deliver the commencement address to the class of 1998. Daniels, who earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975, is president and CEO of Berean Federal Savings Bank in Philadelphia. Berean Federal is America's oldest African-American savings bank. Degrees will be conferred upon those students who have completed the requirements for bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees.
About 25 graduates will participate in the commencement ceremony at USIU's campus in Mexico City on June 19 and some 365 degrees will be conferred at the ceremony at USIU's campus in Nairobi, Kenya on June 20.
USIU's San Diego campus is located at 10455 Pomerado Road, one mile east of Interstate 15 in Scripps Ranch.
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San Diego Gas & Electric, the principal subsidiary of Enova Corp., is unveiling for residential customers an interactive online energy audit.
The audit — which is free of charge — will allow customers to call up their bill online, using their SDG&E account number, and input information on their energy usage. The computer will provide specific suggestions — and projected dollar savings — for their residence, as they adjust their energy usage.
Our customers are turning more and more to the use of the Internet for information, entertainment and to conduct business," says Greg Haddow, marketing director at SDG&E. "This interactive audit will fit into their increasingly busy lifestyles, allowing them to save energy and money from the convenience of their own home."
The first 1,000 customers who complete the online audit will receive a free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb.
SDG&E also offers residential customers complimentary audit service by mail. Customers can request a mail-in audit by calling 1-800-411-SDGE (7343). The audit can be found at http://www.sdge.com.
June 11, 1998
The University of San Diego’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators for San Diego County rose 0.1 percent in April. A moderate increase in consumer confidence led the month's move. Smaller contributions to the gain were made by local stock prices, help wanted advertising, and the outlook for the national economy. Initial claims for unemployment insurance were virtually unchanged, although with a slight positive bias. The only negative component was building permits, which declined for the fourth consecutive month.
April's gain was the 37th consecutive monthly increase in the Index. As was the case in March, the increase was less spectacular than some of the advances in recent months. At this point, none of the positive components is strong on a consistent basis. Most are edging upward slowly. But the fact that most of the components are positive is a good sign, as is the fact that they outweigh the one negative component, building permits. Thus, the outlook for the local economy remains positive for the rest of 1998.
Of the positive components, consumer confidence registered the biggest gain. This is significant because consumer spending represent a large portion of the regional economy. Consumer confidence is a good leading indicator because when consumers are more confident, consumer spending increases, which leads to increased economic activity and eventually more jobs. The reverse would be true if consumer confidence fails.
Something that should be carefully examined in the coming months is the labor market variables (initial claims for unemployment insurance and help wanted advertising). While they were both positive in April, their rate of increase has slowed considerably. The implication is that the County's unemployment rate may have reached a bottom and will edge upward in the coming months. It should be remembered, though, that the unemployment rate was at a very low level of 3.3 percent in April, and a slight increase from that level would not be particularly worrisome.
April's increase puts the Index for San Diego County at 142.9, up from March's reading of 142.8. There was no revision to the previously reported change of plus 0.1 for March.
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In another sign that San Diego visitor industry is headed for a record busting year, visitor spending in the first quarter of 1998 rose 12 percent to $1.07 billion when compared to the same quarter of 1997. And the industry accomplished that despite the number of total visitors declining 0.5 percent to 3.1 million in the quarter, a drop attributed to the rainy February and March when potential weekend visitors from the important Los Angeles and Orange County markets looked out their windows, saw the precipitation and decided to stay home.
Nevertheless, and thanks largely to Super Bowl XXXIII, the number of hotel room nights sold rose 3.9 percent to 2.9 million, a feat that pushed average hotel occupancy to 70.8 percent, the first time since 1981 it had surpassed 70 percent in a year’s first quarter. The success of the hoteliers was also evident in the average room rate, which, for the quarter, jumped 16.4 percent to $98.26.
"Despite the unusually wet weather on many weekends brought on by El Nino conditions, our local visitor industry not only managed to hold its own, but to register an increase as well," says Reint Reinders, president and CEO of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.
June 10, 1998
Manpower Inc.'s third quarter Employment Outlook Survey is forecasting moderate staffing activity in San Diego this summer.
Hiring gains are planned by 10 percent of the local businesses, while the remaining 90 percent intend to make no changes, Manpower says. Additionally, none of the businesses surveyed anticipated payroll reductions.
"The current job scene reveals that a lot of people have jobs," says Phil Blair, president and co-owner of Manpower Temporary Services in San Diego. "There is a definite stabilization trend here. Employers will find available labor in short supply again this quarter."
Three months ago, companies expressed similar views, when 14 percent expected to add personnel and one percent expected cutbacks. One year ago, 16 percent forecast increased employment rolls, while five percent predicted a downturn.
This July, August and September, job opportunities appear most promising in construction, wholesale/retail trade, services and public administration. Mixed readings are reported in non-durable goods manufacturing.
Nationally, demand for workers will remain exceptionally high with 32 percent planning staff increases, five percent anticipating cutbacks, 59 percent expecting no change and 4 percent still uncertain.
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San Diego-based @Backup, has been named as a Hot U.S. Technology Company by Facts Online. To qualify, companies must have national presence or potential, received new investments, or made acquisitions during May. Of the 119 companies, 40 are publicly traded and 79 are private.
Billed as the fastest growing online data backup service, @Backup provides online PC backup targeted for medium to large businesses and mobile professionals. With one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of storage capacity at a supercomputer facility, @Backup says it can backup more than 100,000 PCs. Fully automated backup scheduling and an incoming data communication capacity of one gigabyte per second ensures that the valuable data will be transferred to @Backup's secure electronic vault each night.
Facts Online reviews tens of thousands of private and public companies and selects businesses with new investments, acquisitions or positive net income. Users of the Facts Online database include: technology companies, investment bankers, management consultants and executive recruiters.
June 9, 1998
Seven San Diego auto repair shops have made the list of 33 Southland shops designated by the Automobile Club of Southern California for its Approved Auto Repair Quality Service Awards.
The repair shops are Seaside Buick Inc., Jon Woods Automotive, Seene's Automotive Service Inc., Miramar Automotive in San Diego, along with Automotive Technology in El Cajon, Horsman Automotive in Santee, and Auto Precision in Vista.
To meet the Auto Club's standards for quality service, the shops had to receive 99 percent or better customer-satisfaction rates, operate a professional garage without facility or equipment deficiencies, not receive any customer complaints and maintain their Auto Club-approved status during the past year.
For the past 22 years, the Auto Club has inspected mechanical repair facilities through its Approved Auto Repair program. The program was designed to provide its members with a comprehensive list of facilities that provide quality repair work.
Each of the 750 Southern California facilities is regularly screened and monitored to assure that it meets high Auto Club standards for quality service and repairs.
The facilities in the network provide the following:
- Repair guarantee
- Parts and repairs are guaranteed for 12 months/12,000 miles.
- Complaint resolution
- Facilities abide by the Auto Club decision when an Auto Club member expresses concerns about how the facility handled his or her repair.
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McQuertergroup has expanded its Orange County office and the addition of an account coordinator.
"Since opening the Orange County office in February, our rapid growth has lead us to expand into new facilities as well as add additional staff much sooner than originally anticipated," says Greg McQuerter, president of McQuertergroup. "We’re anticipating even further growth as we actively recruit for additional staff and aggressively pursue identified new business opportunities."
Since February of this year, two new companies have been added to McQuertergroup's list of high technology clients, CMD Technology and Syzygy Network Solutions. Irvine-based CMD Technology Inc., is a provider of high performance computer peripheral interface technology. Syzygy Network Solutions, based in Orange, is a communications company providing custom cabling and network service solutions for corporations across the United States.
Joining Lisa Heller, g.m. of the Orange County McQuertergroup office, is Allison Bourassa as an account coordinator. A recent communications graduate of the University of San Diego, Bourassa was promoted from the San Diego office to help Heller support the growth of the business in Orange County and better service existing clients.
The new office is centrally located at 1910 East Warner Avenue in Santa Ana.
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The merger agreement entered into in March between Sumitomo Bank of California and Zions Bancorporation of Utah goes to a vote of Sumitomo shareholders on July 28 at 2 p.m. during a meeting at the Park Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. All holders of the bank's common shares of record at the close of business on June 15 will receive notice of and be entitled to vote at the meeting.
Under that agreement, Sumitomo's public shareholders will receive $38.25 in cash for each of their shares. Upon approval by the shareholders, Sumitomo will be merged into Grossmont Bank, the San Diego based wholly-owned subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation. The new bank will be called Bank of California.
June 8, 1998
RCN Corp., the nation's first and largest single- source, facilities-based provider of telecommunications services to the residential market, and the largest regional Internet service provider (ISP) in the Northeast, says San Diego is among the California cities it has applied for regulatory authority to deliver its package of phone, cable and Internet services over its own state-of-the-art fiber optic network.
"Our intent is to build a broadband fiber optic network in California capable of offering the highest-quality phone, cable and Internet services, with room left over for future applications," says David McCourt, chairman and CEO of RCN. "We are going to bring the Golden State exactly the same quality network that is currently serving residents in the Boston to Washington, D.C. corridor."
In announcing its plans, the company cited the unprecedented and transcendent effect of the Internet on the modern telecommunications industry.
"The Internet has changed the landscape dramatically," McCourt says. "It is changing everything we know and have known about the way people move words and images from one place to another. RCN understands these changes, which is why we are designing and building a brand new fiber optic network around the needs of the Internet."
RCN's network construction in California will focus on the San Francisco to San Diego corridor, which represents roughly 8.6 million homes, and comprises approximately 10 percent of the nation's telecommunications usage and just 1.5 percent of its geography.
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San Diego-based Advanced Information Resources has licensed its ACBS (Advanced Commercial Banking System) loan processing software to Canada's Export Development Corp., AIR President Don Cooksey reports. The system is being installed on an IBM platform at EDC headquarters in Ottawa.
As Canada's official export credit agency, Export Development has provided financial products and services to Canadian companies for more than 50 years. These services enable Canadian firms of any size to provide medium- and long-term financing to overseas customers. EDC serves some 4,000 customers each year, and its annual business volumes exceed $C28 billion.
The international financing arrangements are generally complex, especially when they involve buyers in regions that are politically or economically volatile. Loans can involve more than one hundred covenants, and innovative arrangements, such as leveraged lease financing packages or project finance, require even more extensive documentation.
"Documenting the conditions of a complex financing deal, tracking compliance with those conditions, and understanding the underlying risks are especially critical business activities for our organization," say George Elliott and Paul Kriz, Export Development project managers for the ACBS implementation. "Our ability to attract and finance new business is directly proportional to our ability to control risk and monitor compliance across highly volatile business environments. We needed a loan processing system that would support the full range of our business needs and allow us to increase business activity without incurring excessive costs."
"The complexity of the export finance process creates special challenges for lending systems," says Cooksey of San Diego’s Advanced Information. "ACBS was engineered to accommodate the most complex and sophisticated lending transactions imaginable, with virtually unlimited documentation management and compliance tracking capabilities."
ACBS (Advanced Commercial Banking System) is a modular, seamlessly integrated loan processing system that offers a complete range of front- and back-office functionality, from deal capture through settlement and accounting. The fourth-generation system runs on advanced client/server architecture, offers complete Year 2000 and Euro currency compliance, and is in use at such other leading financial institutions as NationsBank, Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan, PNC, Credit Lyonnais, Credit Agricole and National Bank of Canada.
AIR is an industry leader that specializes in the design, development, service, and support of high-end wholesale and commercial banking software. The company is a technology business partner with Microsoft, IBM, Digital, Oracle, Tandem and Aspect. AIR has its headquarters in Del Mar with regional offices in New York and London. For more information, visit its Web site at: http://www.acbs.com.
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San Diego-based Data Tree Corp. has been sold to Santa Ana-based First American Financial Corp. for 632,006 First American shares.
"We are very pleased to welcome Data Tree and Harish Chopra to our company," says Parker Kennedy, president of First American. "This is a very important acquisition for First American and we look forward to expanding our imaged document business."
Data Tree provides database management and document imaging systems to county recorders, governmental agencies and the title industry. Harish Chopra will continue to serve as its president. Founded in 1988, Data Tree is headquartered in San Diego with additional offices in Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Florida.
First American is the nation's leading provider of real estate-related financial and information services. The corporation's subsidiaries include First American Title Insurance Co., a national and international title insurer; First American Real Estate Information Services Inc., which offers tax monitoring, credit reporting, property data services, flood certification, field inspection services, appraisal services, mortgage loan servicing systems, and mortgage document preparation nationally; First American Home Buyers Protection Corp., a home warranty company; and First American Capital Management, an investment advisory firm. The corporation also operates First American Trust Co. First Security Thrift Co. in Southern California. First American Financial has more than 13,000 employees in over 400 branch offices in the United States and abroad. Information about the company’s subsidiaries and an archive of its press releases can be found at http://www.firstam.com on the Internet.
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How does winning the Pulitzer Prize change your life? What does Arianna Huffington say to her peers in journalism? Can journalists learn to write humorously? And who's in charge of their grammar?
These questions — and more — will be answered June 19 and 20 in San Diego as the National society of Newspaper Columnists holds its 21st annual meeting. About 100 columnists from around the country will attend the events, to be held at Humphrey's and the Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island.
Among the highlights:
- June 19 (morning): Eileen McNamara, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist from the Boston Globe, is the keynote speaker and later joins another panelist who's won journalism's most coveted award in a discussion of how winning a Pulitzer changes careers and lives.
- June 19 (lunch): One of the nation's most controversial columnists, Arianna Huffington, gives the luncheon address.
- June 19 (evening): The National Society's Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed on Richard Reeves.
- June 20 (morning): Learning to lighten it up with Jim Brogan, who is the chief writer for Jay Leno; Bill Tammeus of the Kansas City Star; and others.
- June 20 (afternoon): Lessons in grammar from National Public Radio's "Conan the Grammarian" Richard Lederer, and lexicographic insights from self-described "verbivore" Charles Harrington Elster.
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June 5, 1998
Looking to ensure that CDMA is a major part of the world's next generation wireless systems, Qualcomm Inc. yesterday testified before the House of Representatives Science Subcommittee on Technology in Washington, D.C. that all parties should work together toward a converged third generation standard. John Major, corporate executive v.p. and president of the Wireless Infrastructure Division of Qualcomm, stated that the new third generation standards should treat existing wireless network investments fairly while providing significant benefits for both operators and consumers.
CdmaOne, an American invention, is the fastest growing digital wireless standard in the world. Less than three years after its first commercial deployment in Hong Kong, cdmaOne is the dominant digital technology in the U.S., Korea and Mexico, and has been deployed throughout Canada, Asia, Latin America, Africa, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Commercial launches are expected later this year in Japan and Australia.
Along with the other CDMA equipment manufacturers, Qualcomm has worked with the CDMA Development Group (CDG) on a third generation version of cdmaOne that will be known as cdma2000. Cdma2000 has been submitted to various standards bodies around the world for consideration and eventual standardization.
Major stressed that Qualcomm executives are committed to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) process and will continue to work with all parties toward a converged third generation standard that meets the above specifications. He noted, however, that such an effort requires significant changes in the way the European Commission and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) have approached the issue to date.
"We believe that standards and technology decisions should be made based on what is best for customers and operators, not what is best for wireless manufacturers or governments," Major said. "We believe in full and fair competition among technologies — not in protectionism or in industrial policy that places manufacturers ahead of consumers."
ETSI and others are promoting a W-CDMA standard that does not meet with the basic principles espoused by Major during his testimony: a converged third generation standard that respects existing second generation investments; allowing markets, not governments, to guide timing and deployment of 3G services; and making decisions based on what is best for the customers and operators. This variant of CDMA cannot deliver what it promises, and will only raise costs for consumers. Major noted that the principles he outlined are consistent with the historical approach taken by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States on standards issues.
Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG, issued a statement that echoed Mr. Major's remarks. "The CDG has worked to establish strong relationships with standards bodies in Asia and Europe. Our goal is the development of wireless standards that are beneficial to operators and manufacturers around the world. Standards bodies in Asia have been very responsive to open dialogue on this issue. The Europeans, in contrast, seem resistant to such a dialogue. We are concerned that the European market will remain closed, as was the case with the GSM second-generation standard, while other regions pursue a more open-market approach. We hope that the European and ITU processes are open and equitable and that all regional standards bodies will be willing to work toward a harmonized standard."
As a result of its early and unique leadership role in CDMA, Qualcomm has an extensive CDMA patent portfolio. It includes more than 130 CDMA patents issued, more than 400 patent applications pending in the U.S. and around the world, and 55 licensed equipment manufacturers.
Qualcomm has informed standards bodies that if the IMT-2000 CDMA standard meets certain requirements and provides a reasonable level of compatibility with today’s cdmaOne networks, Qualcomm will commit to widely license its essential patents for such standard on reasonable terms and conditions free from unfair discrimination.
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Burnham Pacific Properties Inc., an equity real estate investment trust, has bought three more neighborhood shopping centers — Keizer Creekside in Salem, Ore.; Park Manor in Bellingham, Wash.; and Cruces Norte in Las Cruces, N.M. — from Powell Development Co. Burnham acquired the centers for about $10.7 million. The three centers are among a portfolio of 13 retail properties comprising in excess of 550,000 square feet that Burnham is acquiring from Powell under a previously announced agreement for about $61 million. Pursuant to that agreement, Burnham initially purchased five properties in the states of Washington and New Mexico and continues to hold the right to acquire five additional properties from Powell.
Keizer Creekside: Located in Keizer, this property contains 104,212 square feet of GLA of which the company purchased 61,943 square feet, anchored by an Albertson's Supermarket (not owned).
Park Manor: Located in Bellingham, this property contains 96,266 square feet of GLA of which the company purchased 28,454 square feet, anchored by an Albertson's Supermarket (not owned).
Cruces Norte: Located in Las Cruces, this property contains 78,885 square feet of GLA of which the company purchased 24,930 square feet, anchored by an Albertson's Supermarket (not owned).
"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of these additional Powell Portfolio properties," says David Martin, president and CEO of Burnham. "The acquisition of these additional properties will expand our presence in the Pacific Northwest and add to our retail property holdings."
Burnham Pacific Properties is a fully integrated real estate operating company which acquires, rehabilitates, develops and manages retail properties on the West Coast where it is the largest owner of retail centers. Headquartered in San Diego, the company has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento in California, as well as Portland, Oregon and Seattle.
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Laforza Automobiles Inc. in Escondido has signed a letter of intent with ILFAS of Lithuania. ILFAS is the manufacturer of the Lada automobile, better known as the "Russian Fiat." The vehicle is marketed across Europe and Canada. Under the terms of the final agreement ILFAS will loan LAI $600,000. Also, LAI will enter into a joint venture in which it will help ILFAS manufacture the Laforza SUV in Lithuania. The agreement will allow LAI to finalize the purchase of all remaining Laforza inventory from the 1989-90 model year. The company has valued the assets purchased at more than $1.8 million once all vehicles are assembled and sold.
Laforza will provide the technical expertise to set up manufacturing and ILFAS will provide the facility, labor force and cost of production over the next five years. Exact terms will be released when the deal closes.
"The joint venture with ILFAS will allow us to begin increasing our production volume, while at the same time penetrate a new market without affecting our U.S. distribution," says David Hops, Laforza's president and CEO.
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June 4, 1998
BankBoston has signed a $10 million secured credit agreement with Rubio's Restaurants Inc. The deal — a three-year revolving credit line and a three-year term loan — will enable Rubio's to refinance existing debt and provide capital to finance future new unit growth. Rubio's operates nearly 50 upscale, quick service Mexican restaurants, under the name Rubio's Baja Grill, in Southern California, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and, to open later in 1998, Denver. Rubio's projects 1998 gross revenues of $46 million, up from $30 million in 1997.
"Rubio's alliance with BankBoston supports our near-term goal to grow to 125 company-owned units, with over $100 million in sales, by the year 2000," says Jim Stryker, Rubio's CFO.
Rod Guinn, BankBoston's restaurant division executive, notes "this transaction will help Rubio's expand its concept from Southern California where it has shown great strength, to other parts of California and other regions of the country."
BankBoston's Restaurant Division is the national leader in financing all segments of the restaurant industry, including quick service, family and casual, fine dining and institutional. With more than 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry, BankBoston has in excess of $1 billion in commitments to restaurants globally.
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Standard & Poor's has assigned its 'SP-1'-plus rating to San Diego area local governments' $131.54 million 1998 pooled TRANs.
The 1998 notes are severally secured by a pool of 35 school districts located in San Diego County. Each school district in the pool has been individually rated 'SP-1'-plus for repayment of its portion of the 1998 notes. The individual school districts each pledge unrestricted general fund monies of their respective general funds attributable to fiscal year 1998-1999 for their portion of the note borrowing, with no district obligated to repay more than the portion it borrows, S&P says. Each school district must set-aside 50 percent of the principal amount of it respective note payment in a note repayment account, held by an independent fiscal agent, during the months of January and April 1999, with interest also payable to the repayment account in April. In the event that by the next to last day of the set-aside dates there are insufficient unrestricted general fund monies for any school district, the deficiency to the note repayment account will be satisfied from any other unencumbered lawfully available monies of the respective school district. The pooled notes will be repaid from the note repayment account in three series maturing June 30, July 31, and Sept. 30, 1999. The note repayment account will be invested in a guaranteed investment contract approved by Standard and Poor's.
All school districts show strong coverage of note repayment by projected fiscal 1999 cash-flows and expected additional alternate sources of liquidity, S&P says. In addition, the county office of education provides strong oversight of school finances and will monitor in advance transfers to respective note repayment accounts in January and April. Should a shortfall exist, the county has the power to automatically transfer needed monies from other funds of the respective school district.
Cash flow projection assumptions were generally deemed to be conservative, and the county office of education has been very pro-active in monitoring finances of all districts in the county, reviewing them monthly, and exercising fiscal oversight powers over school boards if they deem it necessary to hold off potential budget problems, Standard & Poor's says.
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Researchers at Nanogen Inc. report in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology (Volume l6, Issue 6) for the first time the use of a semiconductor bioelectronic chip to isolate and purify microorganism DNA/RNA from a whole blood sample for diagnostic analysis in a second bioelectronic chip. This research demonstrates the potential of Nanogen's bioelectronic chip platform as a technology that could process and analyze a drop of a patient's blood in a physician's office in a matter of minutes.
In the study, Nanogen researchers used their integrated bioelectronic chip technology to first efficiently and precisely separate Escherichia coli (E. coli) from a whole blood sample followed by electronic lysis of the isolated bacteria cells as well as deproteinization of the released DNA/RNA by enzymatic digestion. The researchers then used a second chip to perform hybridization studies to accurately diagnose the E. coli DNA/RNA. Sample preparation procedures are currently tedious, time-consuming processes that can limit the use of disease diagnostics.
"We believe this study is clear proof-of-principle that integrated semiconductor microchips have the potential to transform the method by which some diseases are diagnosed," says Howard Birndorf, CEO at Nanogen. "To date, the detection of microorganisms for disease diagnosis has been very difficult because of preparation of the test sample, i.e. separating the microorganism from whole blood, is often inaccurate and costly. In this study, we have demonstrated the potential of our bioelectronic chips as simple, easy-to-use, fully-automated devices that can serve as a platform not only to isolate the microorganism from a whole blood sample, but also to analyze the test sample for specific strains or diseases.
"By integrating all of the steps involved in sample preparation onto our bioelectronic chip, we have been able to significantly reduce the time needed to isolate infectious agents. In addition to speed, through the use of electronics, our bioelectronic chip platform has the potential to analyze any single sample for multiple strains of one or many microorganisms simultaneously, thus further increasing the platform's utility."
In the paper titled, "Preparation and hybridization analysis of DNA/RNA from E. coli on microfabricated bioelectronic chips," Jing Cheng, Ph.D. and his team at Nanogen first introduced a blood sample contaminated with E. coli onto a 1 cm2 chip consisting of an array of 25 individually addressable microelectrodes. By applying a high frequency AC signal to the chip, the bacteria were isolated from the blood cells according to their polarizability. The separated bacteria were then retained above the 25 electrodes after the white and red blood cells had been washed off. The remaining E. coli was then lysed electronically by a series of high voltage pulses to release both DNA and RNA. The resulting DNA and RNA were purified by enzymatic digestion before being transferred to a second electronically active chip. Through the use of specific DNA/RNA hybridization, the presence of E. coli was confirmed on the second microchip.
Birndorf conclude, "In the 1970s, the computer industry was revolutionized by the advent of the silicon microchip. Large mainframe computers and later personal computers offered increased speed, versatility, flexibility and affordability. As we enter the new millennium, this same revolution is taking place in medicine, where chip-based analyses may change the way molecular biology is practiced in and out of the laboratory. In particular, through the use of microelectronics, we have built our chip platform technology with the flexibility to offer solutions in a broad range of applications from genetic testing and medical diagnosis to genomics and drug discovery."
In addition to the Nature Biotechnology paper, in May, Nanogen announced that it had been selected as one of the 45 finalists from a field of over 4,000 nominations, to receive a technology award from Discover Magazine. The selection was based on the use of DNA for non-biological uses, in a project funded through government contracts from the Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory located in Rome, NY. Nanogen scientists used the inherent DNA properties of self-assembly and recognition as a selective adhesive, to facilitate the integration of two or more distinct micro/nano structures.
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June 3, 1998
Qualcomm Inc. says that OzPhone (a company formed to participate in Australia's personal communications services auctions), it has acquired eight 800 MHz licenses, covering 5.4 million potential customers (POPs). Qualcomm, as sole owner of OzPhone stock, plans to use the licenses to provide digital mobile and wireless local loop (WLL) services in several major metropolitan and suburban areas of Australia. Qualcomm will deploy cellular systems based on the company’s Code Division Multiple Access technology.
"The government's decision to require the conversion from AMPS to digital in the cellular band in these areas will, for the first time, give Australians the opportunity to use CDMA, with its superior coverage, cost and quality, for wireless service in the cellular spectrum," says Harvey White, president of Qualcomm. "We are looking forward to bringing high-quality fixed and mobile wireless voice and data services to major portions of the country. We believe our CDMA network will bring fixed and mobile users a new level of freedom to communicate anywhere, anytime in a cost-effective manner in these greater metropolitan areas."
The consortium has acquired a total of eight 5 MHz licenses in the 800 MHz band in the Brisbane, Perth, Cairns, Mackay, Maryborough, Grafton, Tasmania and Regional West regions, covering 5.4 million POPs. The total cost of the licenses was just under 10 million Australian dollars (about $6.2 million in U.S. dollars). The results of the auction, which began on April 14 and ended May 25, were announced this week by the Australian Communications Authority, Australia's telecommunications regulatory body.
Qualcomm is to be the turnkey supplier of infrastructure, equipment, deployment services, wireless local loop telephones and portable phones for the network rollouts. The systems will utilize Qualcomm's QCell 800 MHz base stations and QCore switch and base station controller products, which are fully scaleable for simple and cost-effective capacity expansion. Qualcomm's products optimize cdmaOne technology to its greatest potential, providing high-performance networks to operators all over the world. Qualcomm networks are fully data-capable, offering consumers the ability to access e-mail, browse the World Wide Web and transmit faxes using their CDMA digital wireless phones. Qualcomm also offers a variety of customer services, including training, program management, installation, commissioning and network planning using Qualcomm's QEDesign network planning software.
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Realty Refund Trust has acquired the InnSuites Hotels San Diego Balboa Park Suite Resort for an undisclosed price. This acquisition follows the Feb. 1 purchase of the InnSuites Hotels Suite Resort in Tucson, Arizona.
Realty Refund says that the InnSuites Hotels San Diego is a historic landmark resort property, one with a long history as a favorite spot for Hollywood stars and that even boasts Bob Hope as its first registered guest. The property, a colonial style mansion, has 147 suites, many of which have fireplaces. Additional amenities include an Olympic sized terrazzo tile swimming pool and the choice of studio, one two and three bedroom suites.
"This acquisition reflects Realty Refund Trust's commitment to executing our aggressive expansion plan to rapidly increase shareholder value for the Trust," says James F. Wirth, president of RRF. "Since the Jan. 31, 1998 merger with InnSuites Hotels, we have increased the number of suites available at RRF's InnSuites Hotel properties from 1034 to 1478 suites and this is just the beginning."
In addition, the Trust holds an option to purchase a 10th property, the InnSuites Hotels Buena Park Suite Hotel and Resort in Buena Park/Anaheim, California, near Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland. Once this acquisition is complete, the increase in total suites will reach 60 percent so far this year. InnSuites Innternational Hotels is based in Phoenix, Arizona and manages all of the InnSuites Hotels concentrated in Arizona and Southern California.
Realty Refund Trust is a publicly traded hotel real estate investment trust headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Bucking a West Coast trend, same-store retail sales in San Diego rose 1.2 percent in May, hitting the national average.
Overall, weak West Coast sales dampened national retail sales gains, with May same-store sales up 1.2 percent over the same period last year, according to data compiled by TeleCheck Services Inc., a check acceptance company. The TeleCheck Retail Index is based on a year-over-year, same-store comparison of the dollar volume of checks written by consumers at more than 27,000 of TeleCheck's 200,000 subscribing locations. TeleCheck is a subsidiary of First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC).
"On a national basis, consumers continued their moderate pace of spending in May. The national number was adversely affected by weak same-store sales on the West Coast, which may reflect the impact of the Asian economic crisis in those markets. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, major trade and shipping centers for Asian and Pacific Rim trade, all showed drops in same- store sales in May, while interior markets were less affected," says Dr. William Ford, TeleCheck's senior economic dvisor.
Overall, the West's sales dropped 1.0 percent, with coastal states the most affected. Colorado's sales climbed 5.2 percent and Arizona's rose 2.2 percent. Washington 's dropped 0.5 percent, California's decreased 2.1 percent, Hawaii's fell 2.6 percent and Oregon's dropped 5.2 percent. Sales were up 2.9 percent in Denver, 2.5 percent in Phoenix and 2.0 percent in Seattle. Sales rose 1.2 percent in San Diego, but dropped 1.4 percent in Los Angeles and 2.5 percent in the Bay Area. Portland's sales plummeted 6.5 percent.
The Southeast led the nation with a 3.2 percent gain. Sales rose by 5.4 percent in Georgia, 3.1 percent in The Carolinas, 2.3 percent in Florida, 2.2 percent in Tennessee and 1.5 percent in Louisiana. Atlanta's sales climbed 5.4 percent, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale's rose 3.5 percent, Orlando's gained 2.9 percent and Tampa's grew 2.1 percent. Nashville's sales rose 2.5 percent, Memphis' grew 2.2 percent and New Orleans' increased 2.4 percent.
The Southwest's sales rose 2.2 percent, with Missouri up 4.7 percent, Oklahoma up 3.2 percent and Texas up 2.0 percent. Sales rose 4.7 percent in St. Louis, 4.0 percent in Kansas City, 3.4 percent in Tulsa and 3.3 percent in Oklahoma City. Sales grew by 5.0 percent in Dallas/Fort Worth, by 3.6 percent in Houston, by 3.1 percent in San Antonio and by 1.3 percent in Austin.
In the Northeast, sales rose 1.9 percent, with Massachusetts up 3.3 percent and Boston up 1.2 percent. New York was down 1.1 percent, with New York City's sales falling 1.9 percent.
The Midwest grew 1.6 percent, with Ohio up 3.4 percent and Wisconsin and Michigan up 3.1 percent. Illinois rose 2.9 percent and Minnesota grew 0.8 percent. Cleveland's sales were up 2.9 percent, and Milwaukee's and Detroit’s each rose 3.4 percent. Chicago's sales rose 2.6 percent and Minneapolis/St. Paul's rose 1.7 percent.
The Mid-Atlantic was up 0.9 percent. Sales rose 4.8 percent in Virginia, 2.3 percent in Pennsylvania and 1.4 percent in Maryland. New Jersey's sales dropped 1.7 percent and the District of Columbia's rose 3.0 percent. Philadelphia's sales fell 0.3 percent, Pittsburgh's dropped 0.6 percent and Baltimore's decreased 1.1 percent.
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June 2, 1998
LaSalle Hotel Properties has bought the 44-acre San Diego Princess Resort for $73 million from VVH Resorts, Ltd. The newly formed public real estate investment trust will rename the property the San Diego Paradise Point Resort and invest up to $8 million in capital improvements over the next two years to renovate and reposition the resort. LaSalle will lease the hotel to an affiliate of Noble House Hotels & Resorts, which also will operate the property. Russell D. Urban, Executive Director of Insignia/ESG Hotel Partners, was the exclusive agent for the seller.
As part of its new strategic relationship with LaSalle Hotel Properties, Noble House will acquire $2 million of shares of common stock from the REIT. These shares will be used as collateral for Noble House's obligations under its lease and the company has agreed to maintain such shares as collateral for its 10-year lease term.
"We are pleased to announce our first hotel acquisition since our initial public offering on April 24," says Jon Bortz, president and CEO of LaSalle. "San Diego is a high growth market with significant barriers to entry; and this asset perfectly fits our strategy of acquiring upscale and luxury properties in urban, resort and convention markets with sustained high growth."
Smith Travel Research reports San Diego’s hotel market ran 70.8 percent occupancy March year to date versus 69.8 percent for the same period in 1997. The average daily rate (ADR) was $98.26 in the first three months of 1998 versus $84.39 in the same period of 1997, representing a 16.4 percent rate increase. For the same period, room revenue per available room (REVPAR) increased 18 percent from $58.80 to $69.56. In 1997, the San Diego Paradise had an ADR of approximately $136, with an occupancy of 77 percent, resulting in REVPAR of approximately $105. During the first three months of 1998, the resort experienced occupancy of approximately 70.9 percent at an ADR of $142, which resulted in REVPAR of $100.67.
The resort is located in the heart of 4,600-acre Mission Bay on Vacation Island. The 44-acre resort has nearly one mile of beachfront and 462 guestrooms in 129, single-story villas. The hotel is subject to a 50- year ground lease from the city of San Diego with 46 years remaining on the term.
The property is minutes away from the San Diego International Airport and convenient to many major San Diego tourist attractions including Sea World, Old Town, Downtown San Diego, the San Diego Convention Center, Qualcomm Stadium and the San Diego Zoo. Resort amenities include the Barefoot Bar and Grill, The Tropics Bar and Grill, the Village Cafe and the Dockside Restaurant and Bay Lounge. The San Diego Paradise Point Resort also features 24 meeting rooms totaling 30,000 square feet of flexible indoor, outdoor meeting and social space. The resort also offers a large ballroom, boat marina, six lighted tennis courts, indoor and outdoor fitness facilities, an 18-hole green grass putting course, bike rentals, six swimming pools, a volleyball court and a whirlpool.
"Working closely with Noble House, LaSalle plans to renovate and upgrade this irreplaceable asset incrementally over time," says Michael Barnello, LaSalle's COO. "As the San Diego market continues to thrive, our renovation plans will enable us to offer more and better services to our guests to make this prosperous resort even more successful."
"We are pleased to commence our strategic business relationship with Noble House Hotels & Resorts, a nationally known and prestigious hotel operator," adds Bortz. "LaSalle's relationship with Noble House underscores our commitment as a multi-tenant REIT to acquire hotels and establish strategic relationships with many premier hotel management companies. With the addition of Noble House, LaSalle Hotel Properties currently has such alliances with six major hotel operators."
Noble House Hotels & Resorts, formed in 1976, manages in excess of 2,000 hotel rooms primarily located in Florida, Texas and on the West Coast. Noble House specializes in renovations, repositionings and managing high-end independent hotels including the Edgewater in Seattle; the Adolphus in Dallas; the Portofino in Redondo Beach, Calif.; The Inn at Loretto in Santa Fe, N.M.; La Playa Beach Resort in Naples, Fla.; The Sunburst in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and The Grove Isle Club & Resort in Coconut Grove, Fla.
"It is a tremendous opportunity for our company to be involved with an asset as special as the San Diego Paradise Point Resort," say Patrick Colee, chairman of Noble House. "We are extremely pleased with our new relationship with LaSalle Hotel Properties — one that we expect will lead to further partnership opportunities."
LaSalle Hotel Properties is a leading multi-tenant, multi-operator real estate investment trust which, with the purchase of the San Diego Paradise Point Resort, owns 11 upscale and luxury full-service hotels, totaling 3,841 guest rooms in eight states. The company seeks to grow through strategic relationships with premier internationally recognized hotel operating companies including Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, Inc., Radisson Hotels International Inc., Durbin Companies, Outrigger Lodging Services and Noble House Hotels & Resorts.
LaSalle Hotel Properties is focused on acquiring upscale and luxury full- service hotels located primarily in major business and urban, resort and convention markets and the REIT serves as the exclusive vehicle for LaSalle Partners' hotel investment activities in the United States. Founded in 1968, LaSalle Partners (NYSE: LAP) is a leading vertically integrated global real estate services firm providing management services, corporate and financial services, and investment management services for public and private institutions and other real estate owners and investors worldwide.
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Aurora Biosciences Corp. says that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent Number 5,741,657 relating to the beta-lactamase reporter gene system, a key technology in Aurora's proprietary fluorescent assay portfolio. The patented beta-lactamase reporter gene system is one of the technologies accessed by Aurora's collaborators, including Merck & Co., Warner-Lambert Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly and Co. The company believes that its beta-lactamase reporter gene system is an important advance in drug discovery technology that can be used for many major classes of drug targets in most therapeutic areas.
"One of the most powerful applications of Aurora's novel and proprietary reporter system is the rapid isolation of a single genetically engineered living cell with an active therapeutic target from a population of millions of transfected cells within minutes," says John D. Mendlein, Aurora's senior legal counsel and v.p. of intellectual property. "Compared to traditional molecular biology approaches, Aurora's technology may be 10 to 100 times faster in achieving such results. The issuance of the first patent from Aurora's enzymatic reporter system patent portfolio represents a milestone for the Company's protection of its rapid screen development technology, as well as patent protection for its expanding technology platform in human cell functional genomics."
The beta-lactamase reporter gene system is an advance over existing, well- established reporter genes, such as chloramphenicol acetyltransferase ("CAT") or luciferase, because it provides extremely sensitive readouts from single living human cells. Many important genes are expressed only at low levels and can be difficult or impossible to study with previous reporters. Using Aurora's beta-lactamase reporter system, changes in gene expression can be visualized by a switch from a green to blue glow (fluorescence) emanating from the living cells. This system has multiple applications including rapid expression cloning of genes, functional genomics in human cells by gene trapping, and creating cell-based assays for high throughput screening for potential new medicines.
The beta-lactamase reporter system was first developed in the laboratory of Roger Y. Tsien, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD who also is one of the company’s scientific founders. The inventors of this technology are Dr. Tsien and Gregor Zlokarnik, principal chemist at Aurora. A research article on the beta-lactamase system was recently published in Science, Vol. 279, January 2, 1998.
Aurora designs and develops proprietary drug discovery systems, services and technologies to accelerate and enhance the discovery of new medicines. Aurora is developing an integrated technology platform comprised of a portfolio of proprietary fluorescent assay technologies and an ultra-high throughput screening system designed to allow assay miniaturization and automation with the potential to help change the paradigm of drug discovery. The company believes that this platform will enable Aurora and its collaborators to take advantage of the opportunities created by recent advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry that have generated a multitude of new therapeutic targets and small molecule compounds to screen.
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Bank of Commerce says it will pay its 45th consecutive quarterly cash dividend on August 3, 1998 to shareholders of record on June 30. The three cents per share dividend represents a sizable increase in the bank's cash dividend payout due to the increase in shares outstanding resulting from the recent acquisition of Rancho Vista National Bank and the 2-for-1 split issued Dec. 10. BofC currently has about 14.2 million shares outstanding compared to 5.9 million a year ago.
"This is the first dividend we will pay to our new shareholders from Rancho Vista and we are delighted to welcome them to our bank with this dividend," says Peter Q. Davis, chairman and CEO.
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June 1, 1998
Grossmont Bank is soon to be renamed Bank of California as part of the consolidation by Zions Bancorp. of its latest purchase, Sumitomo Bank of California with Grossmont and First Pacific National Bank of San Diego. The move will give San Diego 15 branches of the newly-named bank.
The combined bank will have a statewide network of 70 offices, with plans to expand, and assets of about $6 billion, making it the fifth largest commercial bank in the state. The bank will be state-chartered and FDIC insured. The sale is expected to be approved by Sumitomo shareholders as well as state and federal regulators in the third quarter.
Bank of California was selected after an extensive search of potential names, including recommendations from nearly 800 Sumitomo, Grossmont, and First Pacific employees. Several employees recommended Bank of California. The name has also been cleared with state and federal regulatory agencies.
"The new name is a simple and direct reflection of our California super- community bank focus," says Robert G. Sarver, the future chairman and CEO of Bank of California. Sarver, who is chairman of Grossmont and a director of Zions, will, along with local management, own approximately 5 percent of Bank of California, investing side by side with Zions.
Harris H. Simmons, president and CEO of Zions, says "This co ownership arrangement with Bank of California's management reflects their commitment to the California bank and will benefit Zions, Bank of California and the local markets in which Bank of California will operate."
"Bank of California will focus its efforts on delivering what Californians need and deserve: a bank with a statewide reach, centered around relationship banking, and delivered through a regional approach," says Sarver.
In addition to Sarver, Bank of California's executive management team will include the appointment of Tomoyuki Kato as managing director for Northern California, Allan Severson, now president of Grossmont, as managing director for Southern California, Dennis Uyemura as managing director for finance, and David Blackford as managing director for real estate lending.
"Current Sumitomo Bank customers will continue to experience the high level of service and respect to which they are accustomed when the merger is finalized," says Kato, the current president of Sumitomo Bank of California, who has agreed to stay on after the merger, becoming a key member of the management team of Bank of California.
Severson, president and CEO of Grossmont Bank since 1993, "has tripled Grossmont's business since his arrival through a formula of success in San Diego centered around experienced local bankers, a strong community commitment, and high service levels to which all employees are held accountable," says Sarver.
Bank of California will divide Northern California into three regions: the North Bay with 10 offices, the South Bay with seven offices, and the Central Valley with five offices.
Southern California will be divided into five regions going north to south, including: Los Angeles with eight offices, West Los Angeles with nine offices, the Orange Coast with seven offices, North San Diego/South Riverside County with nine offices, and San Diego with 15 offices.
"Our goal is to have quality bankers in each region responsive to market and customer needs, creating a partnership with their local community," said Mr. Severson.
In addition to plans for a significant investment in upgrading and enhancing Sumitomo's offices, Bank of California will add new products and services, including SBA loans, construction lending, private banking services, a multi-lingual call center, and a significantly enhanced community outreach and development program.
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Standard & Poor's has assigned its 'SP-1'-plus rating to San Diego County's $175 million 1998-1999 TRANs.
In addition, S&P affirmed its ratings on the county's outstanding debt. The rating on the County notes reflects the strong projected coverage by pledged revenues and the county's strong credit quality. The TRANs are secured by taxes, income, cash receipts, and other unrestricted revenues attributable to fiscal l998-1999.
With the sale of San Diego County's solid waste system in 1997 and the subsequent establishment of large cash reserves, San Diego’s general fund cash balances provide strong projected coverage for the notes, S&P says. The county's cash flow projections show an expected ending balance of $52.0 million at the end of fiscal 1998-1999 after TRAN repayment, providing note debt service coverage of 1.28 times. In addition to the cash on hand in the general fund, the county has identified over $197 million in other borrowable resources that the county could use to meet TRAN repayments should there be an unexpected shortfall in the general fund, including the county's newly created environmental trust fund. These additional funds raise TRANs coverage at maturity to 2.35.
In March 1998, Standard & Poor's raised the county's outstanding long-term debt reflecting, San Diego County's greatly improved financial position with significant reserves and the adoption of prudent policies to maintain these reserves. The county restored and enhanced cash balances previously used to facilitate the defeasance of its solid waster recycling center debt. Additionally, the county has established an environmental trust fund to address post-closure costs of existing landfills.
The county's unreserved balance for fiscal 1997 was $57.6 million (3.1 percent of expenditures) with an undesignated reserve of $49.8 million (2.7 percent). Fiscal 1998 general fund's budget of $2 billion includes about $400 million of general purpose, or discretionary revenues. Discretionary revenues are property taxes, motor vehicle license fees, interest earnings, and sales tax revenues (not specified for a particular use). Second quarter projections indicated a $15 million surplus due to over performing revenues and maintaining budgeted expenditures. This surplus is net of a new $10 million operating reserve established this year. The proposed 1999 budget is expected to be balanced with no one-time measures.
Outlook: Stable
The county's able management backed by solid fiscal policies, will maintain the long-term ratings. San Diego county's diverse and growing economy also provides credit stability. — CreditWire
Outstanding Ratings Affirmed
- Certificates of participation (1993 Capital Projects) series A: A
- Taxable pension obligation bonds series A: A+
- Certificates of participation refunding (East Mesa Detention Facilities Project) series 1989: A
- Certificates of participation (1991 Interim Justice Facilities Project): A
- Certificates of participation 997 master refunding: A SPUR
- Certificates of participation (1998 Downtown Courthouse Refunding): A
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NetPartners Internet Solutions Inc., a San Diego-based Internet software developer, has secured $6 million in its first round of venture financing. Morgan Stanley Venture Partners is supplying $5 million, with an additional $1 million provided by Edelson Technology Partners. NetPartners is the developer of WebSense Internet Screening System, software that monitors, reports, and manages Internet access in a networked environment.
Since its launch in 1996, WebSene has become the screening solution of choice for businesses and schools, capturing the majority of the networked market. It also is the only market leading screening product certified by the International Computer Security Association's (ICSA) testing laboratories.
"As we have watched the screening market grow, we realized that there are far more opportunities out there than we could have tackled," says Phil Trubey, president and CEO of NetPartners. "The fundamental reason for acquiring our financing right now is to deliver the scalable, enterprise wide products that our customers are demanding."
NetPartners works in conjunction with leaders in Internet and networking technology to develop WebSENSE for the broadest range of platforms including:
- Cisco Systems Inc.
- Microsoft
- Check Point Software Technologies, LTD
- IBM
- Netscape
"This outside financing allows us to continue to aggressively penetrate the corporate market by broadening the already largest domestic and international channel in our industry," says Trubey. "It also gives us the ability to continue work on our carrier class products for the new emerging ISP market which will deliver WebSense into the home and small business markets."
Founded in 1994 with little more than $8,000 on his personal credit cards, Trubey built NetPartners into a multi-million dollar enterprise by 1997. The company has managed to increase revenues more than 250 percent per year since its inception.
The success of WebSense has been built on several factors including:
- High-quality products
- User-friendly interface and setup
- Accurate and comprehensive site categorization
- User-customizable reporting
- Wide range of platforms
Pricing for all WebSense products is based on a subscription to the "Master Database," a list of more than 250,000 web sites classified into one of 30 categories, making it the most comprehensive database in the industry. Proprietary IP Screening technology delivers high performance and security. As part of the subscription service, NetPartners continuously updates the database. The WebSense software downloads list updates automatically every day at a time specified by the user.
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