Lee group to acquire Univision for $12.3b
Rival group led by Televisa could still make another bid
LOS ANGELES -- Univision Communications Inc.'s board has agreed to sell the nation's largest Spanish-language broadcaster for $12.3 billion to a consortium of investors, the parties involved in the sale said yesterday.
The figure agreed upon late Monday equals $36.25 a share, according to a news release. That's a 13 percent premium to Univision's closing stock price on Monday. The group of investors will also assume about $1.4 billion in debt.
The consortium, led by private equity firms Texas Pacific Group Inc. and Thomas H. Lee Partners, also includes Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Providence Equity Partners Inc., and media mogul Haim Saban.
Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa SA, which led a rival consortium of investors, said it was ``disappointed" with the outcome of the Univision auction.
``Given this action by Univision's board, Televisa has a number of alternatives it is considering," the company said. It could make another bid.
Univision's bylaws allow Televisa, which owns an 11 percent stake in Univision and supplies it with much of its programming, to veto a sale , but such a move can be defeated by a 60 percent approval from Univision shareholders.
