Univision Bidder Hemisphere Media Walks Away From Auction

(Bloomberg) -- Hemisphere Media Group Inc. has dropped out of the auction for Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Hemisphere, which had teamed up with Liberty Global Plc.’s investment arm to work on a bid for Univision, is no longer planning to submit an offer, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private.

Hemisphere’s move clouds the sale process for Univision, whose private equity owners have been trying to offload the company for months. Former Viacom Inc. chief financial officer Wade Davis and private equity firm Platinum Equity remain interested, the people said.

Representatives for Univision, Hemisphere, Liberty Global and Davis declined to comment. A representative for Platinum didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Univision and its advisers set a deadline for final offers early next week, the people said.

Churchill Capital Corp. II, serial dealmaker Michael Klein’s blank-check company, was considering bidding for Univision, Bloomberg News reported in October.

Univision, with $7.4 billion in debt, is backed by the private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners, TPG, Providence Equity Partners, Saban Capital Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net;Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net;Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks

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