Univision Owners Said to Near Sale to Viacom Ex-Finance Chief

(Bloomberg) -- Former Viacom Inc. Chief Financial Officer Wade Davis is finalizing an agreement to buy Univision Communications Inc. in a deal that could be announced as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Davis and his backers at Searchlight Capital Partners are expected to contribute about $800 million for a controlling stake in the Spanish-language media giant, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The transaction being discussed would value Univision at less than $10 billion including debt, the people said.

Mexico’s Grupo Televisa SAB, which owns roughly 40% of Univision, will remain a shareholder, the people said.

Negotiations are continuing and a final agreement might not be reached, the people said.

A spokesperson for Univision declined to comment. A representative for Davis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hemisphere, Klein

At least three bidders had initially expressed interest in buying Univision. Hemisphere Media Group Inc. dropped out of the sale process in January. Churchill Capital Corp. II, serial dealmaker Michael Klein’s blank-check company, had also considered bidding for Univision, Bloomberg News reported in October.

Univision said in July that it would seek bidders, as its private equity owners look for an exit after more than a decade of ownership. In 2017, Univision rejected a $13 billion-plus merger offer from Discovery Inc. A year later it scrapped an initial public offering.

Chief Executive Officer Vincent Sadusky has cited the growth that Hispanics provide to the U.S. economy -- and the lack of big media assets to reach them -- as reasons why the company would be attractive.

Univision, the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., was taken private in 2007 in a $12.3 billion deal. The company is backed by the private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners, TPG, Providence Equity Partners, Saban Capital Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

The broadcaster has struggled financially since going private, in part because the TV industry is shrinking as more viewers migrate to online streaming services. Univision has said it still carries a heavy debt load, $7.4 billion as of June 30.

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

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, ;Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III, Michael Hytha

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