Toronto, Ontario – (Marketwire) – Clairvest Group Inc. today announced a USD 16 million investment to acquire 50% ownership in the Plaza Sol de Los Lagos casino being built in Osorno, Chile. Although Clairvest has made joint investments in casinos in Canada and Chile with other investors through Clairvest Equity Partners III Limited Partnership (CEP III), this purchase is a Clairvest-only investment as this would exceed current geographic investment limitations for CEP III.

The city of Osorno has a population of 150,000 and the surrounding region within 30 kilometres has a total population of 350,000. Osorno is a popular vacation area and is also the border crossing to San Bariloche, Argentina, one of the busiest border crossings between the two countries.

The casino will have 300 slot machines as well as 20 table games and is expected to open by the end of 2008. The government of Chile has granted Plaza Sol de Los Lagos a monopoly licence for a minimum of 15 years for the city of Osorno and surrounding area. The adjacent project will contain a hotel, event halls, recreational facilities as well as retail stores.

„This acquisition is part of Clairvest’s strategy to build a substantial gaming and entertainment company in Chile,“ said Jeff Parr, Co-CEO of Clairvest, adding „we continue to investigate other opportunities to augment this strategy.“

In undertaking the Osorno casino, Clairvest has partnered with Latin Gaming, an existing casino operator with deep gaming expertise across Latin America and over a decade of business experience in Chile.

„We are delighted to have Clairvest join us as a partner in this exciting undertaking,“ said Marcelo D’Amato, Vice President of Latin Gaming. „In recent years, Chile has benefited from substantial investments by many Canadian companies and institutions, and we welcome Clairvest’s support and expertise in developing the gaming industry in this country.“

„This rising level of investment stems from increasing confidence in the political and regulatory environment in Chile, as well as the transparency of the regulatory process,“ said Jeff Parr. „We look forward to maintaining long and mutually rewarding relationships with our Chilean partners, customers, suppliers and employees.“