Univision May Have New Suitor

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Ross Sorkin]
A consortium of companies and investors that includes the Mexican television giant Grupo Televisa has emerged as a potential bidder for Univision, the largest Spanish-language television and radio company in the United States. The consortium includes private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners, as well as the Cisneros Group of Venezuela and the media entrepreneur Haim Saban, according to people involved in the group. The team has an inherent advantage in the closely watched auction because Televisa has a contract through 2017 to provide Univision with much of its programming, potentially making it more viable for the company to make a higher bid than its rivals. As a major gateway to the growing Hispanic audience in the United States, Univision set off a flurry of speculation about possible bidders last month when it confirmed that it would offer itself for sale. UBS is running the sale process. Media giants like CBS and Time Warner are also seriously weighing bids, people close to those companies said. A handful of other private equity firms are also planning to bid, and some are trying to team up with bigger media companies. Blackstone Group, for example, has held talks about joining CBS, these people said. Texas Pacific Group is also actively exploring a bid, these people said. For more on Televisa see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1638
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/business/media/10univision.html
(requires registration)

* Televisa, Private Equity Firm May Bid Jointly for Univision
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-uni10mar10,1,4900542....
(requires registration)