Foley planning to move spinoff to western Las Vegas Valley

Bill Foley, who hopes to deliver a National Hockey League team to Las Vegas, is planting roots here.

First, he bought a house in the upscale Ridges section of Summerlin.

Now, he’s moving a publicly traded company that he spun off from his Fidelity National Financial title insurance company last year to the western Las Vegas Valley from Jacksonville, Fla.

Foley is looking for commercial space to house Fidelity National Financial Ventures. Its staff of 30 includes 15 senior executives who work on Foley’s nontraditional, nontitle insurance investments in restaurants, employment benefits and payroll operations.

“For me, this will be fun. It’s like hockey,” Foley said. “We’ll make some investments. It’s a strong, well-focused group.”

Foley said he looking at the One Summerlin office building in downtown Summerlin and also Tivoli Village, which Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. officials say is not in Summerlin, as a potential new home for FNFV.

“Instead of being a nomad operating out of my house, I will have an office,” Foley said Tuesday.

The 70-year-old businessman launched a season ticket deposit drive Feb. 10 to show NHL officials and team owners that Las Vegas is ready for an NHL franchise.

Foley’s ticket campaign has about 11,000 commitments, and his bid for a Las Vegas team is expected to be discussed at a NHL Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas on June 24.

Foley is partnering on the NHL team with the Maloof brothers, of Las Vegas, the former owners of the NBA Sacramento Kings from 1998-2013. Foley would be majority owner.

Foley is hoping to have a team awarded to Las Vegas that would start in the 2016-17 season at the new arena being built on the Strip behind New York-New York though 2017-18 could be more realistic. Foley would need time to build a training rink in the Las Vegas area and hire a general manager, coach and scouts.

A big factor in the NHL possibly expanding to Las Vegas is the $375 million arena being built by the 50/50 partnership of MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group, a Los Angeles-based sports and entertainment company that owns the NHL Los Angeles Kings and Staples Center. The MGM-AEG arena is scheduled to open in late April 2016.

To show his commitment to Las Vegas, Foley said he is moving FNFV to the area.

FNFV is publicly traded and incorporate investments both in the title company stock and the other ventures such as the restaurant brands. According to Google Finance, FNFV has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion with 92.4 million shares outstanding.

Foley, who has made 350 deals through his career, uses FNFV to invest in:

■ American Blue Ribbon Holdings, which owns 690 casual restaurant stores including the Village Inn and O’Charleys chains

■ J Alexander’s, an upscale restaurant brand with 40 restaurants in 14 states.

■ Ceridian, a business management company.

■ Digital Insurance, an employee benefits agency.

■ Fleetcor, a provider of fleet and payment solutions.

Foley continues to meet with fans to discuss his NHL team bid. He appeared at a sports bar at the Suncoast on Tuesday, where he said the team’s colors would be black, gold and gray.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Find him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel.