In Brief

New Sands Macau resort to house major hotel brands

Sands China Ltd., a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands Corp., announced Friday that its new multibillion-dollar Macau resort would house Hilton and Intercontinental hotel brands when it opens next year.

Located on Macau's Cotai strip, next to the company's Venetian resort, Sands Cotai Central will feature 6,000 rooms from Conrad and Holiday Inn brands, owned by Hilton and Intercontinental respectively, as well as Sheraton and Sheraton Towers.

Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

"When the doors to the rooms and suites at Cotai Central start swinging open early next spring, Macau's metamorphosis from a gaming-centric regional location into an international leisure and business destination will be a step closer to completion," said Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Sands China and Las Vegas Sands, in a statement.

The 636-room Conrad Macau is expected to open in the first quarter of 2012.

"This is a key project for us as it marks the entry of the Conrad brand ... into an exciting new market like Macau," Andrew Clough, Hilton Worldwide's senior vice president of development-Middle East and Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

Conrad hotels already are in place in Hong Kong and Sanya Haitang Bay, with others being built in Dalian, Beijing, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Tiajian, Qingdao, and Xiamen in Greater China. The brand has 18 hotels set to open in the next four years.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell $1.38, or 3.19 percent, to close Friday at $41.87 on the New York Stock Exchange.

LV lawyer wins approval for majority stake in bank

The third time was a charm for Jason Awad.

The Las Vegas lawyer received approval from federal and state banking regulators to acquire a majority shareholder position in First Security Bank of Nevada for $14 million.

He had walked away from a buyout of 1st Commerce Bank and failed to take over Nevada Commerce Bank before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized it in April.

The existing 220 shareholders will retain an equity stake in First Security Bank, although the new investors will dilute the value of their shares.

Founded in 2006, First Security Bank had $106.1 million in assets at the end of the first quarter.

The bank, with one branch at 10501 W. Gowan Road, lost $50,00 in the first quarter and $937,000 for the quarter ended Dec. 31.

In a statement Thursday, Awad said he expected a "recapitalized" First Security Bank to be a "substantial economic engine" for growth in Las Vegas.

More passengers fill Allegiant flights in July

Allegiant Travel Co. was almost bursting at the rivets in July as it crammed more people into its planes.

During the month, the number of passengers on scheduled and charter service rose 6.8 percent from one year ago to 673,000, even as it cut departures by 1 percent and slightly trimmed the average flight length.

That combination raised the load factor, or percent of seats sold, from 86.3 percent to 91.3 percent. On scheduled service, the load factor hit 93.3 percent.

By contrast, Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at McCarran International Airport, showed a slight load factor decline at 85.1 percent; No. 2 Delta came in at 87.6 percent.

During the current quarter, Allegiant projects that its scheduled departures will drop from 4 percent to 8 percent, as a cost-cutting measure and a reaction to an ill-fated service expansion one year ago. During the fourth quarter, however, Allegiant expects departures to grow 1 percent to 5 percent.