4 O.C. companies buy other firms

January 16th, 2009, 1:00 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Jan Norman, small-business columnist

In a flurry of merger and acquisition activity, four Orange County companies have bought other firms.

The purchases are in three different industries and may signal strength in local mergers and acquisitions market even as national M&A was the slowest since 1999 in the fourth quarter, reports Dow Jones VentureSource.

Terms were not disclosed for any of these transactions.

In no particular order, here are the deals:

1. Newport Coast Investment in Newport Beach and Ascent Venture Group, a New York private investment firm, have teamed up to buy the assets, software and intellectual property of NextMedium Inc., a Los Angeles product placement ad agency.

Newport Coast is the investment arm of Ryan and Chad Steelberg, who will manage NextMedium through their operating company Brand Affinity Technologies Inc. in Irvine.

“Despite the challenging market conditions, we believe that investment in new and innovative advertising platforms and technologies is essential and will provide the basis for future industry growth and increasing advertising effectiveness,” said Chad Steelberg.

2. MedAvant Healthcare Solutions in Santa Ana is buying Omaha-based Qwik+Cross Medicare from HDM Corp. MedAvant itself was recently bought by Marlin Equity Partners, a Los Angeles private investment firm.

Says Marlin Partner George Kase, “The acquisition of the Qwik+Cross business signifies Marlin’s commitment to continued growth and success for MedAvant.”

MedAvant is a national network for electronically processing administrative, financial and clinical information. Qwik+Cross provides electronic claims for private insurance that covers gaps in Medicare coverage.

3. Quest Software Inc. in Aliso Viejo bought the technology assets of MonoSphere Inc., a private Redwood City firm. Quest said it would hire “a substantial number of former MonoSphere employees.”

Quest is a vendor of system management products for companies. MonoSphere created Storage Horizon software that manages clients’ storage capacity. Quest said it will continue to support and enhance Storage Horizon.

4. Alpine Biomed in Fountain Valley bought Montreal-based Stellate.

It is the second purchase Alpine has made since private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners invested in the medical device company. Stellate makes products to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, epilepsy and muscular disorders.

“When we invested in Alpine, we worked with the management team to build a strategic road map focused on growth through a number of channels including acquisitions,” said Water Street partner Ned Villers, an Alpine director.