Business Briefs for August 4, 1998

sgreen@lasvegassun.com

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998 | 11:36 a.m.

A summary of the day's top financial news

Local

* ICAHN IN, BECKER OUT AT ARIZONA CHARLIE'S -- Carl Icahn will take control of Arizona Charlie's, officials said Monday. Becker Gaming, owner of the bankrupt Decatur Boulevard resort, was unable to arrange a loan to pay off the property's creditors by Friday's deadline, said Becker attorney John Clemency. A deal between Becker and Icahn, the resort's largest creditor, says Icahn will take control of the resort within the next 60 days. When Icahn appears before the Nevada Gaming Control Board Wednesday in connection with his application for a Stratosphere hotel-casino gaming license, he will also seek emergency authority to participate in Arizona Charlie's operations, said Icahn gaming attorney Jeff Silver. Icahn officials will likely be on-site within the next few weeks, said Icahn attorney Ed Weisfelner. Becker will continue managing the property for no fee during this transition period, officials said. Becker had seemed all but certain to retain control of Arizona Charlie's until two weeks ago, when Southern California mortgage lender United Healthcare Financial Services LLC canceled a $92 million loan. It said Arizona Charlie's cash flow would be insufficient to service the loan, and said a loan should never have been offered.

* CIRCUS CIRCUS DISCLOSES MANDALAY BAY DETAILS -- Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. said construction problems at its $950 million Mandalay Bay hotel-casino won't delay the resort's opening or "materially increase" the cost of the project. The company made the statement in an 8-K report filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission Monday. Such reports are normally filed to alert investors of material events that could influence stock prices. But Circus said the 8-K was filed "solely for the purpose of providing an updated description" of settlement problems that have affected Mandalay Bay. The filing said that until work is completed on fixing uneven settling of the structure, which county officials said has sunk from 2 to 17 inches into the earth, "there can be no assurances that further corrective measures will not be required or, if additional measures are required, as to the cost of such measures or their impact, if any, on the scheduled completion and opening of Mandalay Bay."

* SOUTHWEST GAS SELLING SHARES TO FINANCE EXPANSION -- Southwest Gas Corp. of Las Vegas plans to issue 2.5 million shares this week to raise about $59 million for continuing expansions and improvements to existing systems throughout the Southwest, the company said. Some of the proceeds will also be used to pay down short term debt.

* ALTA GOLD EARNS A PROFIT DESPITE STORMS -- Alta Gold Co. of Henderson today reported a second-quarter profit of $114,000, or less than 1 cent per share; down from $944,000 or 3 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue of $3.2 million was up from $3 million a year earlier. Alta said it was pleased with the profit because El Nino-related storms caused production difficulties at two mines.

* BOULDER CITY SOFTWARE FIRM SUED -- New York-based Softek Business Systems Inc. sued Cetec Software Systems Inc. of Boulder City and Advanced Technology MP Inc. of San Clemente, Calif., alleging copyright infringement. Softek licensed a sales and marketing program to Cetec for resale. The suit alleges Cetec made copies of the software without permission. The suit alleges Advanced Technology knowingly obtained an unlicensed copy of the software. Bob Atkinson of Cetec said the material was not copied and the suit stems from a soured business deal.

* HOUSE PASSES CREDIT UNION BILL -- The House today passed and sent to President Clinton a bill that would let credit unions expand their memberships to more than one occupational group, helping them compete against banks for consumers. But it wasn't immediately clear whether Clinton would sign into law the measure the House adopted on a voice vote. The legislation, approved overwhelmingly by the Senate last week, lacks a provision that was in an earlier House-passed version -- backed by the administration -- that would require credit unions to abide by the fair-lending rules banks already must follow. Those federal rules require banks to serve low-income people and minorities in their communities.

To contact Sun Business Editor Steve Green, call 259-4083 or e-mail sgreen@lasvegassun.com