Business briefs

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

Ex-Southwest Gas suitor tells of new deal

ONEOK Inc. announced today plans to acquire a portfolio of midwestern natural gas assets for $308 million, less than two weeks after it broke off a deal to acquire Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp.

ONEOK, based in Tulsa, Okla., will acquire the gas gathering, processing and transmission assets of Dynergy Inc. for $307.7 million. These assets include 7,000 miles of gas pipelines through Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, as well as eight natural gas processing plants. The sale is expected to close within two months.

ONEOK said the deal will expand its asset base in the midwest and be immediately accretive to earnings. The company offers natural gas service to 1.4 million customers in Kansas and Oklahoma.

ONEOK terminated its $1.8 billion agreement to acquire Southwest Gas on Jan. 21, saying there was too much financial risk associated with the Las Vegas company. Southwest responded by suing ONEOK for fraud and breach of contract. Analysts had expected ONEOK to immediately seek out new acquisition opportunities following the termination of the Southwest Gas deal.

Hospital, estranged wife sued over privacy

A Las Vegas man sued his estranged wife, University Medical Center of Southern Nevada Foundation Inc. and a pharmacy technician, Jeffrey Rosenblat, alleging they violated his privacy by releasing his private medical records without his authorization.

Christopher Vener sued his estranged wife, Janet Vener, alleging she used his medical records to discredit him before the District Court's Family Division to prevent him from being awarded full custody of his two children in a divorce action she initiated.

In a Clark County District Court suit, Vener said he received an affidavit from his wife -- which included a confidential medical history of his heart condition -- last Dec. 20, a day before the child custody hearings.

Martin Heiny, UMC's risk management director, declined comment.

Restaurant sued over soccer broadcast

Universal Sports Network Inc. of Coral Springs, Fla., sued a Las Vegas restaurant and its owner, alleging they misappropriated its exclusive rights to broadcast a closed-circuit 1999 soccer match.

In a Clark County District Court suit, Universal Sports sued El Patio Mexican Restaurant and its owner Alex Corona, alleging they illegally intercepted transmission of the Aug. 4 Copa Confederation soccer match between Brazil and Mexico by using illegal decoding devices.

Universal Sports is seeking a judgment declaring El Patio's unauthorized interception of the match violates the federal Communications Act and would injure the network's ability to market future pay-per-view products.

Corona could not be reached for comment.

Henderson Internet firm gets boost from federal agency

The federal Government Services Administration will feature a Henderson company's website as part of its meeting planner course curriculum, the company said.

Use of AllMeetings.com, a site that helps meeting planners save money by offering planning and budgeting tools and an inventory of meeting places online, will be included in the GSA course that begins in April.

AllMeetings spokeswoman Megan Tobin-Jones said her company gets commissions from properties by booking a variety of meetings, from family reunions to corporate gatherings. AllMeetings.com's software evaluates 5,000 properties in 250 cities nationwide to determine the best location for a meeting.

AllMeetings.com calculates the cost of a proposed meeting, including air travel, meals, taxis, rental cars, hotel rooms and meeting space.

Company officials say being mentioned in the GSA course will give the website additional exposure as well as save taxpayers money.

Suit against Ohioans alleges fraud

An Alabama man sued three Ohio residents, alleging they conspired to cheat him of $198,000 through a series of fictitious deals supposedly involving professional golfers and the sale of sports book betting equipment to restaurants and bars in Las Vegas.

M. Whitman Beasley Jr. sued Scott Jacob Meyer and his parents Harvey and Donna Meyer in a Clark County District Court suit, claiming he had provided funding for the proposed deals because he was told Harvey Meyer was an attorney and certified public accountant and his family allegedly had business dealings with Carl Lindner, one of the wealthiest men in southern Ohio.

The suit said Scott Meyer first proposed in the spring of 1997 to open a restaurant named after professional golfers including Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus.

The suit said Meyer had proposed many other deals in the fall and winter of 1997, all of which were allegedly fictitious, before he proposed in spring 1998 to sell sports book betting equipment to video poker bars and restaurants in Las Vegas.

The suit said the equipment would be connected to a sports book to allow bar or restaurant patrons to make sports bets easily.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

Defamation alleged in suit

A Las Vegas real estate advertising firm is seeking an injunction against its rival to stop it from defaming the advertising firm in its real estate newsletter.

Worldwide Investments Inc. of Las Vegas sued Rio Rancho Landowners Association Inc. of Port Orange, Fla., its president and its parent company Reno Investments Inc. in Clark County District Court. Worldwide Investments, which advertises worldwide property for sale on the Internet, accused Rio Rancho President James Ownby of trying to boost his newsletter's sales by publishing false and misleading information about Worldwide in the newsletter.

Ownby declined to comment.

Website offers air tour reservations

Henderson-based Air Vegas Airlines unveiled an Internet web site that offers online reservations for Grand Canyon air tours.

The site, www.airvegas.com, has a form for customers to fill out and e-mail to the company. The form includes a blank for a credit card number that is encrypted when the document is sent. Within 24 hours, a reservation confirmation is e-mailed back to the customer.

Airvegas.com also offers a virtual tour of the Grand Canyon and information about the airline's most popular tours, prices and bus pick-up times.

Former owners sued over competition

ECN International Inc. of Las Vegas is seeking an injunction against its subsidiary's former owners to force them to stop soliciting its workers and to return proprietary documents.

In a Clark County District Court suit, ECN, which acquired C.R.I. Electric Inc., an electrical service and contracting business from Kevin and Robin Simmons on July 12, 1999, alleged the couple agreed not to interfere in ECN and C.R.I.'s operations or to solicit their workers to join the couple's new rival business.

The suit alleged the defendants also made defamatory statements to damage ECN's reputation in the construction industry.

The defendants' attorney, Preston Howard, could not be reached for comment.