Chile's leading casino operator, Enjoy, announced early in the week that it will seek to place 30% of the company at the local stock exchange. Owned by the Martinez family, with around 460 million ordinary shares, the objective is to realize capital to reinforce a strategy of growth opportunities identified by the company.

Javier Martinez, Enjoy General Manager, said: "This operation seeks access to the capital markets for Enjoy, inviting investors to participate in the interesting opportunities for development and growth presented to the company as it projects its leading position in the industry into the future."

Enjoy has been working on its SE launch since 2007 but postponed it in 2008 owing to the global economic crisis. In June 2008, Enjoy asked the local stock exchange (Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros - SVS), for the inscription of the holding with a capital increase of US$15.1 million.

Enjoy operates seven casinos in Chile's principal cities, excluding capital Santiago where casinos are not authorized, and one in Mendoza, Argentina. As part of the second phase of casino licensing by the local gaming authorities, Enjoy is to open another casino in the southern city of Chiloe. The company also operates 5-star hotels, restaurants and convention centres.

José Miguel Barros, Corporate Finance Director of local stockbrokers LarrainVial, acting for the launch, said: "Enjoy has an innovating and efficient business model that is an attractive investment proposition. The company has diversified operations with interesting growth opportunities and profitability in the existing market."

Next week Enjoy will start a road show to meet the principal institutional investors, local and foreign, to present the Enjoy investment model. Martinez added that the company's launch is not the start of a project, "…but the continuation of the plans for Enjoy that we have been developing for a long time. We believe that it is necessary for us to take this route so that we maintain our growth and can carry on developing our plans." (E-06.11.09)

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