While Enjoy insists on the sale of the asset, the TDLC has not yet defined the authorization. Additionally, Marina del Sol has requested that it be rejected.
Chile.- Enjoy continues to try to move forward with its judicial reorganization process through the sale of Casino Rinconada, one of its main assets. A month after having sent the request to the Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) to issue the sale authorization, they have not yet received news, so they sent explanations about the conditions of the operation. On the other hand, its competitor, Marina del Sol, asked the TDLC to reject the authorization.
Enjoy clarified the obligations that the future purchasers of Casino Rinconada would assume regarding compliance with a possible sanction consisting of the early termination of the operation permit of Enjoy Santiago -in the face of the investigation for collusion-, the way in which these obligations would be adopted, and the guarantees that would be offered to ensure compliance with these obligations.
It is worth remembering that the TDLC issued a precautionary measure against Enjoy that prevents it from selling the assets of Casino Rinconada, Casino Gran Los Ángeles, and Casino de Juegos del Pacífico (San Antonio) until a verdict is issued for the investigation into a possible collusion between Enjoy, Dreams, and Marina del Sol in the tenders.
According to the local media Diario Financiero, as a result, the gaming room operator requested the Tribunal's authorization to execute the sale of the Casino Rinconada unit to the companies Avla Seguros and WEG Capital, an operation that is necessary to materialize its judicial reorganization agreement approved last August.
Enjoy proposed that the purchasers would be obligated to assume as "their own" the possible sanction of early termination, that they must comply with it and cannot oppose an eventual termination of the permit; they also cannot transfer the ownership or control of Casino Rinconada without the authorization of the TDLC or the Superintendence of Casinos and Gaming (SCJ) and must inform the National Economic Prosecutor's Office (FNE) 30 business days in advance of any such operation.
In turn, to adopt these obligations Enjoy proposed that both companies express their willingness to bind themselves in the terms indicated through a public deed and, additionally, proposed that these obligations be part of the sales contracts that it celebrates with Avla Seguros and WEG Capital to materialize the transfer of Rinconada.
Additionally, one of the guarantees proposed by the casino operator is that the purchasers become part in quality of third parties in the trial carried out for collusion.
For its part, the FNE held that “the obligations assumed by a third party unrelated to Enjoy's business group do not offer guarantees at least equivalent to those offered by the current precautionary measure” and that “the way in which the proposed obligations will be adopted also does not offer an equally efficient mechanism to the measure”.
In addition to this, Diario Financiero reported that the Prosecutor's Office added in its writing that “it is necessary to keep in mind some additional considerations that merit dismissing the request made by Enjoy”, given that this “implies a detriment to the common interest” because it compromises the effectiveness of the other measures requested in the requirement.
In response to this last argument, Enjoy pointed out that “the FNE changed at the last minute the basis of the measure” and explained that until now the prosecution had argued that the only basis of the precautionary measure was to ensure the eventual early termination of the operation permits of some of Enjoy's casinos, but that however now maintains that the measure would have as its basis to ensure all the corrective measures stipulated in the requirement, including the possible fines that were requested to be imposed.
Marina del Sol asked the TDLC to reject the authorization for the sale of Casino Rinconada: “If Enjoy disposes of those assets through the ARJ, it could leave it unable to assume the possible compensations, which not only generates potential risks for the affected municipalities, but also for the other two required companies”, assured from the competing company of Enjoy, according to Diario Financiero.
In that sense, Marina del Sol indicated that “Enjoy would dispose of those assets through the judicial reorganization agreement that constitute the most important source of its income, that is, the gaming casinos, which added to the complex financial situation of the required in question, could leave it in the future unable to assume the possible compensations that could arise from a conviction in this venue (TDLC), which not only generates potential patrimonial risks for the municipalities allegedly affected by the accused behaviors, but also, as is obvious, also for the other two required companies (Marina del Sol and Dreams), which could be exposed to respond jointly for a possible compensatory obligation of Enjoy”.
The operator linked to the Imschenetzky family explained that if it disposes of its casinos, according to article 2.317 of the Civil Code -which establishes joint liability for those damages caused by two or more people, as would be the case if the collusion of these three casinos is proven- it would also generate potential risks to the other two companies accused of collusion by the National Economic Prosecutor's Office: Marina del Sol and Dreams.
For its part, from Enjoy they defended themselves from the accusations of Marina del Sol, indicating: “After more than a month and a half of discussion and having held an ad hoc hearing on the matter, Marina del Sol suddenly decided to present some arguments objecting to the Requested Authorization”, was the beginning of Enjoy's response to the unexpected presentation of its competitor.
The operator emphasized that the measure requested by the Prosecutor's Office aims to safeguard only the effectiveness of the eventual early termination of the operation permits of some of the gaming casinos awarded to Enjoy.
