IN BRIEF

Wynn Resorts to issue new secured notes

Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. plans to issue up to $500 million in new secured notes to help it pay down its debt.

The Las Vegas-based company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday that it has agreed with its lenders to issue the notes between now and March 10.

Three-quarters of the proceeds must be used to prepay loans or reduce Wynn's existing debt.

Wynn Resorts, which owns Wynn Las Vegas and Encore in Las Vegas and also owns casinos in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, had $4.12 billion in long-term debt as of June 30.

Analyst shows little faith in MGM Mirage

It doesn't appear the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design certifications MGM Mirage announced Monday for the $8.5 billion CityCenter development will impress Susquehanna Financial Group gaming analyst Robert LaFleur.

In a note to investors Monday, LaFleur expressed surprise that MGM Mirage is trading near $12 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. He thinks the price should be closer to $4 a share.

"Right now, investors appear willing to overlook still-lackluster fundamentals and valuation levels that we have only seen in the 2006-2007 bubble years and back in 2005 during the industry's last merger and acquisition boom," LaFleur told investors. "We do not think this is sustainable."

The analyst said MGM Mirage shareholders either believe the Strip will have a strong economic recovery, are paying a multiple near the high end of the company's historic valuation range, or a combination of the two.

MGM Mirage shares rose 50 cents, or 4.22 percent, Monday to close at $12.34 on the New York Stock Exchange.

AURORA, Ontario

Executive says 10,500 Opel jobs could be cut

As many as 10,500 Opel jobs in Europe could be cut, nearly half of them in Germany, the co-chief executive of Magna International Inc. said Monday, plans that are drawing criticism in countries where the automaker has operations.

Speaking to reporters in Frankfurt, Siegfried Wolf said part of his company's plan for General Motors Co.'s European unit envisions about 4,500 possible job cuts in Germany, where Adam Opel GmbH is based, under plans outlined in July.

Magna and Russia's state-owned Sberbank last week agreed to take a 55 percent stake in the struggling Opel. Magna would invest $250 million in the company if the deal goes through, and would hold a 27.5 percent stake. GM would retain 35 percent of Opel, and Opel's labor unions would get 10 percent.

Paper sees buyers of low-price tires suffering

American consumers who buy low-priced Chinese tires will be hit hardest by a new tariff imposed last week by the Obama administration, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The Journal said the tariffs, which apply to all Chinese tires, will sharply cut the flow of Chinese tires into the United States. Last year more than 46 million Chinese tires came to America, nearly 17 percent of all tires sold in the country.

"I think within the next 60 days you'll see some pretty significant price increases," Jim Mayfield, president of Del-Nat Tire Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., told the Journal. Del-Nat imports and distributes Chinese tires.

Mayfield estimated that the price for "entry-level" tires, which typically cost $50 to $60 apiece, could rise 20 percent to 30 percent.

The Journal said it will take nations such as Brazil and Indonesia months to fill the cheap-tire market void created by the tariff. Also, the paper added, entering this low-cost market niche will be pricey for new players, requiring a revamping of factories to produce the sizes and types of tires U.S. consumers favor.

FRANKFURT

Less to see at car show from U.S. automakers

Sales have plunged, General Motors Co. has emerged from bankruptcy and Chrysler has been taken over by Italy's Fiat. The past year's turbulence will be reflected this week in a smaller U.S. presence at the Frankfurt Auto Show -- along with the new electric vehicles many hope will secure the auto industry's postrecession comeback.

GM's Cadillac brand won't have a presence in the sprawling Frankfurt Messe exhibition center when the show opens to the news media today, and Chrysler's Dodge and Jeep have moved to the Fiat SpA stand.

And the GM's European brands, Opel and Saab, will only serve to remind that GM is selling them. Other notable absences include Mitsubishi, Honda and Nissan's Infiniti, which are instead focusing on the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.

Lilly to cut 14 percent of staff, reduce costs

Seeking to cut costs and bring new drugs to market more quickly as its best-sellers go off-patent, drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. said Monday it will eliminate 5,500 jobs over two years and reorganize into five business units.

The Indianapolis company said it will reduce its work force by nearly 14 percent, to 35,000 from the current 40,500, by the end of 2011. The new total excludes hirings in high-growth emerging markets and Japan.

Lilly hopes to cut annual costs by $1 billion per year over the same time, and will organize itself into the following units: cancer, diabetes, established markets, emerging markets, and Elanco, its animal health business.

WASHINGTON

Auditors say royalties from natural gas at risk

The federal government risks losing millions of dollars in royalties from natural gas production because it does not promptly determine and collect when it gets shortchanged, according to congressional auditors.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday that the Minerals Management Service, which manages oil and gas production on public lands, lacks the tools or staff necessary to check that companies are paying the government what it is owed in royalties.

The report specifically looks at royalty-in-kind. Under this program, companies producing gas on federal lands and offshore pay the government with gas rather than cash. The government then sells the gas.