SBE (SLS, Hyde, Create) and Morgans Hotel Group in merger talks

In club business news, WSJ.com reports that Sam Nazarian’s SBE hospitality company is in advanced talks to merge with Morgans Hotel Group. SBE runs/owns such well known venues as Create and Hyde in Los Angeles, SLS Casino in Las Vegas and more. Morgans runs the Delano in South Beach and Las Vegas as well as other properties in Los Angeles, NYC and London. The merger of these two well known brands is intended to bring stability to each which has suffered setbacks in the past few years. The merger may close as soon as the end of August. The SLS in Las Vegas has been losing money since opening and their well-regarded Sunday night house music programming has been dropped due to lower than hoped for attendance.