$40-Million Refinery Contract Awarded to Fluor Subsidiary

Fluor Corp. of Irvine said one of its subsidiaries has been awarded a $40-million contract by Marathon Petroleum of Ohio to modernize two refineries. The Houston Engineering Center of Fluor Engineers Inc. will provide engineering and construction services at Marathon’s Robinson, Ill., and Garyville, La., plants, which are being revamped to produce high-octane, unleaded gasoline. The plants had been producing leaded gasoline.

A spokesman for Fluor said that the increased demand at the pumps for high-octane, unleaded gas has resulted in many refineries converting their facilities. Approximately 500 temporary construction jobs will be created, the spokesman added.

The conversions at Marathon’s Robinson and Garyville plants are expected to be completed in December, 1985, and August, 1986, respectively.

Fluor is an engineering, construction and natural resources management company headquartered in Irvine.

All Valley Acceptance Co. of Irvine announced Wednesday the sale of $65 million in mobile home housing contracts, which officials say is one of the largest secondary market sales ever in the manufactured housing industry.

The wholly owned subsidiary of Valley Federal Savings and Loan Assn., Van Nuys, which specializes in mobile home contracts, said the sale consists of three private placements to thrift institutions of $50 million, $10 million and $5 million.

The sale represents more than 3,000 individual contracts, the company said.

“There have probably only been one or two others that have come close to a sale of this size,” said E. F. Kniesel, president of All Valley Acceptance.

The 3-year-old company has sold more than $150 million in mobile home contracts since 1983, Kniesel said. “Once investors are exposed to manufactured housing investments, they usually stay with it,” he said. The mobile home market is believed to exceed 6% of the conventional housing market, Kniesel said.

Kniesel said that All Valley Acceptance, which has 16 offices nationwide, already ranks as one of the country’s leading originators of mobile home installment contracts. He said that mobile home contract sales can help ease the nation’s housing problems by continually making funds available to the mobile home buyer.

The William Lyon Co., a major Southern California home builder based in Newport Beach, said it has achieved the highest first-quarter sales volume in its history, posting sales of $50 million, up from $48 million for the first quarter a year ago.

But the company said its sales of 411 homes in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the first quarter of 1985 represented a decline of nearly 6% from the 436 homes sold in the year-ago quarter. The company’s Orange and Riverside counties’ sales manager, John Horner, said the greater dollar volume of fewer sales this year was due to higher average sales prices in 1985.

The Lyon Co. currently has 11 active projects in Southern California, including two each in Irvine and Rancho Cucamonga, and single developments in Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Orange, Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Sunnymead.

A public offering of $100 million of Avco Financial Services Inc. notes was announced Wednesday by underwriters Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc. and Salomon Brothers Inc.

Net proceeds from the sale of the 9% senior notes will be added to the company’s general funds and initially applied to the reduction of short-term debt, Avco officials said. The notes are priced at 99.835%, to yield 9.09% at maturity on June 1, 1987.

Luther Medical Products Inc. has signed an exclusive North American distribution contract with Medical Device & Diagnostic Systems of Kansas City to market Luther’s existing line of needle and catheter systems, officials of the two companies reported Wednesday.

The deal calls for Santa Ana-based Luther to grant MDDS options on an unspecified amount of Luther Medical’s common stock, while MDDS has agreed to commit $800,000 to market Luther’s products over the next year.

Covington Technologies of Fullerton said its common stock has been listed on the NASDAQ National Market System.

Robert B. Fitzpatrick, Covington’s president and chief operating officer, said that with the NASDAQ listing, stockbrokers will be able to provide clients with updated information on the development company.

In addition, the company’s common stock will be included in the National Market System newspaper stock table.