10 NOTABLE GLOBAL DEALS IN 1990
In Orange County, 1990 was a big year for international deals. There were deals to sell fuel-cleaning systems in Spain, hamburger franchises in Indonesia, computer hardware to China, Playboy and other magazines in the Soviet Union, and to mine gold in the Philippines. Some of the county’s most noteworthy international deals are listed below:
SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc., Costa Mesa, agreed to merge with Yugoslavia’s largest drug company, Galenika Pharmaceuticals. (November)
Tokyo-based Nippon Shinpan acquired a 231-acre seaside property known as Monarch Beach from Australia’s Qintex Group for $130 million. (November)
Americom International Corp., Irvine, agreed to a joint venture with the Soviet tourist organization Intourist to manage the 430-room Radisson Slavjanskaya Hotel and an adjacent business center. (May)
The 500-room Sheraton-Anaheim Hotel was acquired by a Tokyo land developer, Pacific Islandia Resort Inc., for close to $40 million in cash. (July)
Western Digital Corp., Irvine, agreed to sell parts of a semiconductor plant in Costa Mesa to Poland’s oldest computer maker, Elwro, for $4 million. (November)
Sony Trans Com Inc., Irvine, and two divisions of Hughes Aircraft Co., Avicom International in Pasadena and Microelectronic Systems in Rancho Santa Margarita, said they would jointly bid for a contract to provide sophisticated in-flight entertainment systems for Europe’s Airbus A330 and A340 passenger aircraft. (September)
Hitachi Ltd. became the first Japanese company to locate a research facility on a U.S. college campus, at UC Irvine. (April)
Speedy International Inc., Anaheim, agreed to a joint venture with Japan’s Canon Sales Inc. and Maruzen Co. Ltd., a large Japanese retailer, to open Speedy print shops throughout Japan. (May)
AST Research Inc., Irvine, made a major push to market its personal computers in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Far East. It announced plans in April to manufacture and sell computers in Japan that are compatible with machines made by NEC Corp., becoming the first U.S. PC maker to go head-to-head with a Japanese company on its own turf.
VTN Corp., Orange, formed a joint venture with affiliate Shelley & Associates to acquire the rights to long-abandoned gold mines in the Philippines. (October)
