Enjoy sells Gran Hotel Pucón to former company executive

Enjoy's creditors have sold the property where the company's casino in Pucón, Chile, operates after a nine-month process, according to a filing with Chile's Financial Market Commission (CMF).

The property was acquired by Inversiones Gran Pucón SpA, a company linked to Andrés Raggio Guerrero, a former Enjoy treasury manager who later worked at financial group Euroamérica and pharmaceutical retailer Socofar Cruz Verde. Until last month, he was finance manager at Clínica Las Condes.

The sale follows an agreement signed in June, about six weeks before authorities opened the tender for the Pucón casino license.

The transaction applies only to the hotel building and does not include the casino operation or other apartment buildings Enjoy previously held in the area. 

Of the proceeds, CLP 12.4bn will go toward payments owed to holders of Enjoy's international bonds, while the remaining will fund operating expenses at Inmobiliaria Peñuelas SpA, which operates Enjoy's casino in Coquimbo.

The Gran Hotel Pucón was built in 1934 by the state railway company Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado to promote tourism in the region. The five-star property spans 12,500 square meters across 153 rooms and includes a gym, spa and restaurant. Enjoy acquired the hotel in 2008 for $27m.

Enjoy entered judicial reorganization proceedings across its Chilean operations after the pandemic eroded the company's finances, a process that has since led to the sale of several of its assets, including the Pucón property.

In August, Chile's gaming regulator received bids for casino licenses in Pucón, Coquimbo, Viña del Mar and Iquique. Only Pucón and Coquimbo received bids, while the other two tenders were left without offers.

Casino Volcán Pucón SA, linked to Raggio, was the sole bidder for the Pucón license. The regulator is now evaluating the proposals, a process that can take up to 120 days.