British Builder John Laing PLC Opens U.S. Unit in Laguna Hills
John Laing plc, a multinational development and construction company based in London, announced Tuesday that it has established a U.S. housing development subsidiary, John Laing Homes Inc., headquartered in Laguna Hills.
Timothy L. Unger, president of the new subsidiary, said that John Laing Homes Inc. will emphasize development and sales of housing in the $50,000 to $150,000 range. Start-up activity will be focused in south Orange County, north San Diego County and Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Founded in 1848, John Laing plc (the “plc” stands for public limited company) has annual sales of about $1 billion and a staff of 17,000.
Unger, 38, joins John Laing Homes Inc. after serving as president of the Barratt Irvine development company, also a subsidiary of a major British builder. Unger also has been executive vice president and regional manager for the Akins Co. of San Diego and vice president with Broadmoor Homes in Irvine and San Diego.
Daniel International Corp., an engineering, construction and maintenance subsidiary of the Irvine-based Fluor Corp., has been awarded a $40-million contract by the Maryland Cup Corp. to design and construct an expansion of Maryland Cup’s Owens Mills manufacturing facility near Baltimore. The 824,000-square-foot expansion will enable Maryland Cup to manufacture ice cream cones, plastic straws, Styrofoam cups and plastic cups. The existing plant makes paper cups. Maryland Cup is a subsidiary of Fort Howard Paper Co., based in Green Bay, Wis.
Fluor Corp. of Irvine Tuesday announced a special selling arrangement for holders of small amounts of Fluor common stock and that of its wholly owned subsidiary, St. Joe Minerals Corp.
Holders of 99 or fewer shares of Fluor stock or 83 or fewer shares of St. Joe stock on March 27 are eligible to participate in the selling arrangement, which expires May 17. The stock will be pooled and sold in blocks at a later date. Selling stockholders will receive the market price at which the shares are sold, but will not be charged brokerage commissions or any other expenses.
Fluor developed the selling arrangement, in part, as a means to reduce costs of communicating with investors holding very small amounts of its stock.
Shareholder Communications Corp., New York, is the manager of the selling arrangement. The First National Bank of Boston will act as the depository and selling agent.
Fluor and its board are prohibited from making any recommendations to stockholders about the merits of selling their shares. Fluor stock closed Tuesday at $19 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. Fluor is an engineering and construction company. St. Joe, based in Clayton, Mo., is a natural resources management company.
Intercole Inc., a diversified Laguna Niguel-based manufacturing and refining company, said Tuesday that it concluded a previously announced acquisition by an investor group led by Northern Group Inc. of Seattle. The $28-million transaction called for all outstanding Intercole shares to be purchased for $9.09 per share in cash.
Northern Group is acting on behalf of institutional investors and certain members of Intercole’s management team, who are expected to hold about 25% of the shares of the merged company. Intercole reported net income of $1.7 million on revenues of $21.5 million for the fiscal first half ended Jan. 31.
American Telecom Inc. of Anaheim, a supplier of digital PBX and other telephone systems and compact cellular mobile telephone equipment, has changed its name to Fujitsu Business Communications.
The company said its new name follows a decision by Fujitsu Ltd. of Tokyo to charter the company as its arm for participating in the business communications market in North America.
FBC, which employs 400 people, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the $5-billion Japanese electronics and telecommunications giant since 1980. It was founded in 1976 as a joint venture between American Telecommunications Corp. and Fujitsu.
