Investors, Technology Firms Seek Their Match : Conference: One of Orange County’s largest investment banks stages an event where cash-hungry start-up firms can find financial partners

One of Orange County’s oldest and largest investment banking firms kicked off its annual Valentine’s week matchmaking fest for cash-hungry technology companies and potential investors by announcing that it has a new name.

Walter Cruttenden III, chairman of what used to be Cruttenden & Co., said the name has been changed to Cruttenden Roth to mark the involvement of investor Byron Roth, who bought a 15% share of the company last year and became its president.

On Monday, as the company’s annual Southern California Growth Stock Conference opened, Roth said he wants to expand the firm to focus attention on start-up firms in the medical devices industry and in specialty retailing. Historically, the company has concentrated on the computer and software industries.

Whatever the business, providing a comfortable place for young companies to schmooze with packs of financial analysts and would-be investors has become the hallmark of the conference, and this year’s is no exception.

A total of 50 companies, eight from Orange County, gathered at the Sutton Place Hotel near John Wayne Airport for the conference, which ends this evening.

“Knowing the investment banks are tracking you is important,” said Mel Gable, president of Costa Mesa-based computer chip maker Qlogic Corp. To raise cash with public offerings, small companies must build the confidence of investors. “You need that attention,” he said.

Gable said the conference was a good place to introduce his company, which has about 160 employees and makes computer chips for connecting devices such as printers to personal computers.

Qlogic was spun off from Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa last year, and its stock was distributed to Emulex shareholders, so the new company has never gone through the process of an initial public offering, as other publicly traded companies do.

Without the investor scrutiny that accompanies a so-called IPO, the opinions of independent market analysts have a significant influence on the stock’s market performance, Gable said.

Other Orange County businesses making pitches during the conference include Rainbow Technologies Inc. and Lannet Data Communications Ltd.

Executives from Rainbow, an Irvine-based maker of data-security and eavesdropping devices, said the exposure and scrutiny the young companies receive is no surprise.

“Investors are out there, but they want to kick the tires, see the story before they go in,” said Patrick Fevery, Rainbow’s chief financial officer, who lingered with some sales literature after making a 15-minute presentation on the company.

Cruttenden served as a market maker for Rainbow during its recent purchase of Torrance-based Mykotronx Inc. last month. Mykotronx manufactures the so-called clipper chip, a controversial device that would allow law enforcement agencies to listen unannounced to computer data transmissions.

Cruttenden Roth is the largest independent investment banking firm based in Orange County. It also has offices in Santa Barbara, Menlo Park and Seattle. The company was lead manager for five initial public offerings in 1994.