Shareholders Sue Over Univision Sale

LOS ANGELES, June 30:
Univision shareholders have filed two suits against the company and its board
over their handling of the sale of the leading Spanish-language network in the
U.S. to a consortium of private investors earlier this week.

According
to the Associated Press, a shareholder identified as L A Murphy filed a lawsuit
on Tuesday seeking a court order to block the sale of Univision "at a
price that is not fair and equitable," and unspecified damages to the
class of shareholders.

Murphy claims Univision's
board put its own personal interests and the interests of the winning bidder
ahead of shareholders, failed to adequately evaluate the company's worth and
failed to create "an active and open auction for Univision products."

Another suit filed on
Wednesday claims Univision's board structured the buyout deal with an eye to
benefiting company insiders.

On Monday, Univision
accepted a $36.25-per-share cash offer that equals about $12.3 billion, not
including some $1.4 billion in debt. The bid was submitted by a group including
Texas Pacific Group Inc., Thomas H. Lee Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners
LLC, Providence Equity Partners Inc., and media mogul Haim Saban.

The big surprise was that
Televisa’s bid was not accepted. The Mexican broadcasting giant owns an
11-percent stake in Univision and is a primary supplier of programming to the
network.