Las Vegas business briefs

sgreen@lasvegassun.com

Friday, Sept. 11, 1998 | 11:10 a.m.

FIDELITY SELLS BIG STAKE IN ANCHOR GAMING -- The Fidelity mutual fund companies have sold a sizeable chunk of their Anchor Gaming holdings, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Fidelity parent FMR Corp. of Boston owns 703,790 Anchor shares, or 5.61 percent of the company, according to a document filed with the SEC Thursday. That's down 990,600 shares, or 7.44 percent of the company, from the 1,694,390 shares FMR reported owning in a Feb. 9 SEC filing. Fidelity does not comment on its investment activity. Anchor President Michael Rumbolz declined to speculate why Fidelity sold the shares. However, Rumbolz said Fidelity sold about a third of the shares in March. Anchor stock bucked a broad market decline Thursday, moving up 2 5/16 to 57 7/16 in light trading. Fidelity is one of the largest institutional holders of gaming stocks. In June, Fidelity sold 6.3 million shares of Circus Circus stock, or 6.6 percent of the company, dropping its Circus Circus holdings to 3.1 percent.

CALIFORNIA INDIAN GAMBLING BACKERS DECRY LOSS OF BUSINESS TO NEVADA CASINOS -- Backers of California's Proposition Five, the pro-Indian gambling initiative, opened their fall campaign Thursday by emphasizing their home-grown support and attacking the out-of-state financing of their opponents. To dramatize their point, the initiative's proponents held a news conference at a Sacramento motel where chartered buses leave several times a day for Nevada casinos, which have contributed $900,000 to defeat the ballot measure.

CHADMOORE WIRELESS EXPANDS -- Chadmoore Wireless Group Inc. of Las Vegas said its customer count now exceeds 18,000, up 18 percent since July 1. Chadmoore also announced the hiring of Richard Leto as chief financial officer. He had been a manager at wireless companies NextWave Telcom and Air Touch International. Chadmoore sells specialized two-way mobile radio service commonly called "dispatch service" and is licensed in 180 markets. Typical customers are taxi fleets, contractors and ambulance services.

LV MORTGAGE COMPANY ACQUIRED -- Sullivan & Mock Corp. of Nevada, 1840 E. Sahara Ave., has been acquired by Argent Capital Corp., Huntington Beach, Calif. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Argent President Christopher Millar said Sullivan & Mock, which opened in 1981, generates about $3 million in new mortgage loans monthly, mostly in the residential sector. The seven Sullivan & Mock employees have been retained by Argent, which was formed in February when Sunport Medical Corp. merged with a company that acquired Clearview Capital Corp.

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