Northern Nevada Business Daily

Geothermal setback

2/3/2012
U.S. Geothermal, the Boise-based developer of the San Emidio geothermal project near Gerlach, says that two large capacitors in the plant's variable frequency drive were defective and need to be replaced. U.S. Geothermal expects to resume commissioning the 8.6 megawatt plant later next week.

Minquest divesture

2/3/2012
Minquest Inc., a privately held mining company headquartered in Reno, has agree to sell its interests in its Patagonia property in Arizona to Regal Resources Inc. of Vancouver. Regal will pay Minquest $800,000, and Minquest will retain a 1.5 percent royalty on mineral returns from the property.

Park Place sale

2/3/2012
Park Place Assisted Living in Reno has been acquired by Ensign Group of Mission Viejo, Calif., in a cash deal. The 60-unit property is 45 percent occupied.

Coming next week in NNBW: Aviation-industry cluster continues to grow.

2/3/2012

Niotan sale

2/2/2012
Niotan Inc., a Carson City company that makes tantalum powders, has been acquired by KEMET Corp. of Greenville, S.C. Niotan, a major supplier of tantalum powder to KEMET, previously was owned by an affiliate of Denham Capital Management. KEMET will pay $30 million at closing and another $45 million over the following 30 months.

Ormat wins OK

2/2/2012
Ormat Technologies Inc. of Reno won approval from the government of New Zealand to buy land on New Zealand’s North Island to build a $167 million power plant.

Coming next week in NNBW: How to finance the purchase of a business.

2/2/2012

First Independent earnings

2/1/2012
First Independent Bank says it earned $12.8 million in 2011, completing its eighth consecutive profitable quarter. The Reno-based bank reported $339 million in loans and $209 million in deposits on Dec. 31.

This week in NNBW: Marilee Wintz of Sage Interiors in her own words.

2/1/2012

E-commerce center

1/31/2012
Webgistix Corp. of Las Vegas says it has opened a 70,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment center at 974 United Circle in Sparks. The company provides third-party fulfillment for Web retailers.

Ormat takes a hit

1/31/2012
Reno-based Ormat Technologies estimates its revenues this year will be about 6 percent below its previous projections because of a change in California regulations concerning the price paid for power from geothermal plants. The company's stock was off about 6 percent today.

Directions 2012

1/31/2012
Tickets are still available for Directions 2012, the largest business and economic forum in the region. It's Thursday morning at the Grand Sierra. Get tickets at http://www.northernnevadachamber.org/events.php.

This week in NNBW: Consultants focus on sales to ultra-wealthy.

1/31/2012

Taxable sales

1/30/2012
Taxable sales in Washoe County during November were 5.3 percent higher than the year-earlier figure, the state Department of Taxation says. Carson City was down 1.6 percent, and Douglas County was essentially flat. Clothing, building supply and automotive retailers helped lead the charge in Washoe County.

Office vacancies

1/30/2012
The vacancy rate in office buildings in Reno-Sparks stood at 19.7 percent at year-end, about 0.6 percent lower than the start of 2011, says an analysis by Colliers International. In garden office projects of less than 10,000 square feet, the vacancy rate stands at 24 percent.

This week in NNBW: Construction resumes on residential project.

1/30/2012

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