Univision is Sold to Private Equity Group

LOS ANGELES, June 27:
Univision Communications’ board approved a $12.3 billion sale of the leading
Spanish-language network in the U.S. to a consortium of investors—not to
Televisa, who had also bid for the network.

The investor group is led
by the private equity firms Texas Pacific Group Inc. and Thomas H. Lee Partners
and also includes Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Providence Equity Partners
Inc. and media mogul Haim Saban.

The $12.3 billion,
according to AP, equals $36.25 a share, not including about $1.4 billion in
debt. The deal, if approved by regulators, is expected to close either in the
fourth quarter of this year, or in the first quarter of 2007.

The Mexican broadcaster
Televisa, who owns an 11-percent stake in Univision, and is a primary supplier
of programming to the network, placed a rival bid, but was turned down.