Enjoy and Dreams agree to merge, creating the largest gaming operator in LatAm

Enjoy and Dreams casino companies confirmed on Monday that they have reached the terms for a preliminary agreement to merge both companies into one, which would become the largest operation of the sector in the country, and one of the largest in Latin America.

The exchange ratio would give Dreams 63.9% of the shares of the combined company, while Enjoy would keep the remaining 36.1%, as detailed by both companies in the essential facts sent separately to the Financial Market Commission (CMF for its initials in Spanish).

They explained that the next steps to follow are to carry out reciprocal due diligence and negotiate a binding merger agreement, which is estimated to take approximately 6 to 8 weeks.

The transaction will be subject to obtaining the applicable consents of third parties, and the approvals of the competition authorities and gaming casinos in the respective jurisdictions where the companies have operations.

The agreement was reached on September 28, and it had been communicated by the companies as a private matter to the CMF, which instructed them to inform the market about the agreement. According to figures from the regulatory body, the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ, in Spanish), in 2019, the year before the pandemic, Dreams and Enjoy accounted for 76.4% of the gross income reported by the industry.

Furthermore, Enjoy had 31% of the permits in the country in 2019, and Dreams, 27%. Enjoy has positions in Antofagasta, San Antonio, Rinconada, Los Angeles, Chiloé and the municipal casinos of Coquimbo, Viña del Mar and Pucón. Dreams operates in San Francisco de Mostazal, Temuco, Valdivia, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas, in addition to the municipal casinos of Iquique and Puerto Varas.