In Brief

CityCenter condo sales
now 14 percent of total

Sales of condominiums at CityCenter's three residential projects have reached 329 units through mid-August, figures tracked by financial adviser Union Gaming Group show.

Total value for the sales is $285.5 million and represents about 14 percent of the 2,400 available residential units within the $8.5 billion complex that is owned in a 50-50 joint venture by MGM Resorts International and Dubai World.

"CityCenter has been closing, on average, about 40 residential units per month," Union Gaming principal Grant Govertsen said Thursday in a research note to clients. "This is well in excess of the market average of about four units per month at residential projects (on the Strip) that are still selling developer inventory."

According to Union Gaming, 55 condominiums have been sold from the inventory of 227 units at Mandarin Oriental. The total sales price at Mandarin was $127.4 million. The average price per square foot is $1,158.

At Vdara, 145 units have closed for a total price of $87.3 million with an average of $788 per square foot. Vdara, CityCenter's condo-hotel, has 1,495 total units, although Govertsen said just 585 units are for sale with the balance of 910 allocated exclusively to the project's hotel pool.

At the all-residential Veer Towers, 129 of the 670 available units have closed for a total sale price of $70.8 million, or $610 per square foot.

Stock offering priced at $6.25 a share for Western Alliance

Western Alliance Bancorporation on Thursday reported that 7 million shares of stock in a public offering will be priced at $6.25 per share, resulting in $43.8 million in gross proceeds.

The Las Vegas-based bank holding company expects to close the sale on Tuesday . Proceeds will be used to increase the capital of subsidiary banks and for general corporate purposes. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is underwriting the stock offer and has a 30-day option to buy an additional 1.05 million shares to cover possible overallotments.

Western Alliance owns Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas, First Independent Bank in Reno, and banks in Arizona and California.

Oklahoma City chain ready
to open first Nevada store

Hobby Lobby Stores, a privately held retail chain of more than 452 arts and crafts stores, will open its first Nevada store at 9 a.m. Monday.

The 52,964-square-foot shop is at 625 N. Stephanie St. in Henderson.

Hobby Lobby will offer materials for crafts, picture framing, jewelry making, and scrapbooking, and fashion fabrics, home accents and holiday supplies.

The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It will employ about 50 full- and part-time employees.

Hobby Lobby was founded in Oklahoma City in 1972 with 300 feet of retail space. The chain has grown to 452 stores in 38 states and operates from a 4.1 million-square-foot office, manufacturing and distribution center.

SAN FRANCISCO

Intel makes its biggest buy,
snags McAfee for $7.68 billion

Intel Corp. is making the biggest acquisition in its history with the $7.68 billion takeover of computer-security software maker McAfee Inc., an expensive example of Intel's commitment to serve an increasing array of Internet-connected devices.

The deal, announced Thursday before the market opened, will help Intel improve the security of its chips by sharpening the software that goes into them. It also opens a new revenue source for Intel, which will sell security software alongside new chips it's developing for devices such as mobile phones, televisions and even cars.

Intel is the No. 1 maker of microprocessors for personal computers and servers.

McAfee shares surged $17.08, or 57.07 percent, Thursday to close at $47.01 on the New York Stock Exchange. Intel shares fell 69 cents, or 3.52 percent, to $18.90 on the Nasdaq National Market.

CHICAGO

Sears Holdings' second-quarter loss shrinks by more than half

Sears Holdings Corp. cut its second-quarter loss by more than half as profit margins perked up at its Kmart chain.

The owner of Sears and Kmart lost $39 million, or 35 cents per share, in the three months ended July 31, compared with a loss of $94 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time adjustments, the current quarter's loss was 19 cents per share.

Revenue fell 0.9 percent to $10.46 billion from $10.55 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a loss of 18 cents per share with revenue of $10.62 billion.