EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Orange County Business Journal, Oct 22-Oct 28, 2007 by Leupold, Julie

This post week's news from www.ocfaj.com and other sources

TECHNOLOGY

Tustin's MTI Corp., a seller of data storage computers and software from EMC Corp., is selling off its European operations for $5.5 million and filing for bankruptcy protection, the company said last week. MTI is filing for bankruptcy reorganization but plans to dissolve, according to Chief Executive Tom Raimondi. MTI plans to cut most U.S. workers and seek buyers for its remaining assets. Any unsold parts of the business are set to be sold off in bankruptcy proceedings, the company said. The deal is set to close in the current quarter.

REAL ESTATE

The county's bousing market saw record declines in prices and sales last month, as the late-summer credit crunch made it a struggle for homebuyers to qualify for jumbo loans. The median price of a home in OC fell to $570,000 in September, according to La Jollabased DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada's MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. That's a 9.5% drop from a year ago, and an 11.2% drop from August's median price of $642^00. September's median selling price was the lowest seen in OC since early 2005. It's also the biggest month-to-month decline in more than a decade.

The head of Los Angeles-based Magulre Properties Inc., OCs second-largest office owner, is considering buying out the company and taking it private, according to reports. Chief Executive Rob Maguire is seeking financing for a management-led buyout of the real estate investment trust, according to Reuters. A deal would reportedly have a minimum per share price in the mid-$30s. Maguire Properties currently trades around $28, and counts a market value of $1.3 billion. A deal also could be struck for another company to buy the landlord outright, the report said.

Real Estate Partners Inc. and seven affiliated entities filed for Chapter 11 protection last week in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. CoStar Group Inc. shows Irvine-based Real Estate Partners as owning six apartments and condominium complexes in California and Texas. Last month, the securities and Exchange Commission filed civil securities fraud charges against Real Estate Partners, its president, seven offerings, two boiler-room operators and four salesmen for conducting a fraudulent $50 million real estate investment scheme.

FINANCE

GMAC Financial Services last week said it's cutting about 3,000 jobs at its lending unit Residential Capital, or roughly 25% of its workforce, including 120 jobs at the Costa Mesa headquarters of Ditech.com, citing "severe" weakness in the housing market and mortgage industry. Most of the nationwide job cuts will occur by the end of the year, the company said. They are in addition to 2,000 cuts earlier this year. In OC, an estimated 8,100 mortgage workers lost their jobs during the past year, state data showed. And that doesn't include smaller mortgage shops that don't show up in state counts. Ditech is also eliminating about 20 jobs in Phoenix. Earlier this* year, Ditech relocated up to 20 workers from Costa Mesa to Phoenix. Ditech's headquarters is staying in Costa Mesa.

Newport Beach-based savings and loan operator Downey Financial Corp. delivered a third-quarter loss last week. Downey said it lost $23.4 million, compared to a profit of $55.6 million a year ago. Downey's stock was up slightly following the news, after falling more than 20% when it warned of lower earnings.