Televisa Closer to Univision Move?

TELEVISA CLOSER TO UNIVISION MOVE?
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
Grupo Televisa S.A. board member Carlos Slim Domit quietly increased his personal holdings in Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc., raising speculation that the Mexican broadcast giant may be trying to beef up its efforts to acquire Univision. Grupo Televisa already owns about 11% of Univision and supplies most of its programming. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, Univision revealed that Slim -- chairman of Mexican telephone giant Teléfonos de México S.A. de C.V. and industrial and retail conglomerate Groupo Carso -- purchased 8.5 million shares of Univision on the open market March 9-20 for an average price of about $33.83 per share. The purchase -- made through Inmobiliaria Carso S.A., a Slim-family real estate company in which Carlos Slim owns a 14.6% stake -- gave the company a 2.8% equity interest in Univision. In a research report Thursday, Miller Tabak & Co. LLC media analyst David Joyce said the timing of Slim’s investment was “curious.” Joyce added that the revelation in the filing that Grupo Televisa was also seeking to name a “Class T” director to Univision’s board -- a seat that was vacated by Grupo Televisa after it sued Univision last year, claiming that Univision breached its programming agreement and cheated Televisa out of royalties -- “points further to a desire by Televisa to gain more control of [Univision] going forward in its potential sale transaction.”
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