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Report: Univision Encountering Resistance To Sale From Buyers, And From Within
June 23, 2014 at 4:22 AM (PT)
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The LOS ANGELES TIMES is reporting that UNIVISION has yet to find a suitor willing to take on its $20 million price tag and $9 million in debt.
The report suggests that partners SABAN CAPITAL GROUP, TEXAS PACIFIC GROUP, PROVIDENCE EQUITY PARTNERS, MADISON DEARBORN PARTNERS and THOMAS H. LEE PARTNERS are also disagreeing on the sale's timing, with some preferring to hold on for a few more years to pay down some of the debt. The current ownership paid $13.7 billion for the company in 2007.
Among those turning down the opportunity to buy the company, the TIMES reports, were CBS and TIME WARNER, both of whom considered the price too high and raised additional concerns, with CBS' LES MOONVES noting regulatory hurdles and ownership cap problems, and TIME WARNER's JEFF BEWKES telling UNIVISION's HAIM SABAN that he "didn't see any real synergies" between the companies. And the TIMES notes that SABAN's eagerness to sell may be related to the demographic shift that sees the Latino community increasingly born in the U.S. and thus more likely to speak English, making them less inclined to watch UNIVISION.

