Disarray in Auction of Univision

DISARRAY IN AUCTION OF UNIVISION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
The auction of Univision, the nation's largest Spanish-language media company, was sent into disarray last night as a consortium of investors led by the Mexican television giant Grupo Televisa, the group tipped to win the contest, missed the deadline to submit an offer, executives involved in the process said. Televisa let the deadline lapse, the executives said, in part because an investment partner, the Carlyle Group of Washington, dropped out of the consortium at the last minute after an internal dispute over the price that the group was prepared to bid. The Televisa-led investor group is still expected to submit an offer -- possibly as early as today, executives involved said, and Univision is likely to waive the deadline. But the auction may not end up being the fierce bidding battle that some investors expected when Univision put itself up for sale in February. While other media companies and investment groups have considered making offers, as the auction deadline neared only one other bidder emerged. People close to the auction said a group that included the private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, the Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners and the media investor Haim Saban was also preparing a bid. The group was working early this morning and planned to submit an offer, one executive said. As with the Televisa group, price seemed to be the crucial issue, people close to the equity firms said. The price the broadcaster may fetch is now expected to be significantly less than the $14 billion privately promoted by the company earlier this year. Bids, if they come, are expected to be about $13 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/business/media/21univision.html
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* Early Univision Bids Near $11 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115085967650186065.html?mod=todays_us_page_one