SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
M&A speculation mounts in Chile, as Mexican gambling group Logrand Entertainment mulls over acquiring Enjoy SA.
As reported by local media, Logrand is monitoring Enjoy developments closely following the Chilean casino group’s failed merger attempt with main market rival Grupo Dreams SA.
Back in April, Chile’s Competition Authority (FNE) intervened on the Enjoy and Dreams merger that would have formed an outright dominant Chilean gambling group with +75% market share and circa 60% of land-based permits.
Though approved by the government, FNE ruled that the merger deal had failed to pass its ‘antitrust controls’. Of significance, the competition review saw FNE deem that “dealmakers had colluded to secure favorable outcomes”.
Merger talks were indefinitely abandoned as Dreams CEO Jaime Wilhelm faces charges of alleged market manipulation and investor fraud.
Logrand has been cited as a suitor to end the M&A limbo for Enjoy investors, in which the Mexican group could take control of 40% share of Chile’s casino market at a cut price offer.
The sale of Enjoy is favoured by the main creditors of the Euroamerica (15%) and Penta Vida (12%), funds which financed the casino group’s recent reorganisation and provide capital liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enjoy had previously expressed intentions to sell its business units in Uruguay, but Logrand is solely interested in the Chilean market, excluding the traditional Punta del Este casino.
The operator of 14 casinos in the provinces of Cancun, Guadalajara and Monterrey, Logrand seeks to expand its South American footprint beyond Mexico – competing against the market rivals of Grupo Caliente MX and Big Bola Casinos.
