Univision Planning IPO This Year

Univision Communications, the nation’s biggest Spanish-language broadcaster, is preparing to go public with an initial public offering sometime this year, according to Reuters, which first reported the news.

The TV, radio, and cable group’s owners have retained Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank to underwrite the IPO, sources familiar with the plan tell Reuters.

The IPO would only part with a relatively small portion of Univision’s equity, leaving it under the effective control of its private-equity owners, including the Saban Capital Group, TPG Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners.

Mexican media titan Grupo Televisa also owns an 8% stake, along with debt that can be converted into a stake of up to 30%. The owners are said to be contemplating a sale of stock equal to a roughly 5% stake for $1 billion, which would value the company overall at over $20 billion when debt is included.

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The same report notes that Univision’s owners, who acquired the network for $12.3 billion in 2007, previously considered selling it to CBS or Time Warner, but ultimately chose to go the IPO route. The company has posted strong growth in recent years, with total revenues rising 7.8% from $2.44 billion in 2013 to $2.63 billion in 2014.

A large part of Univision’s growth strategy has centered on its expanding cable offerings, including new channels targeting Hispanic millennials with a mix of content in Spanish and English. The most prominent are Fusion, co-owned by Univision with Disney-ABC; El Rey, launched with director Robert Rodriguez; and Univision Deportes.

On the digital front, in 2013 Univision struck a deal with MiTú to create short-form Spanish-language content for syndication on Univision’s digital platforms. The deal gives Univision access to content created by MiTú’s network of videographers serving the Hispanic marketplace, with an emphasis on lifestyle content targeted to younger Hispanics.

And in February 2014, it tapped Ooyala to power its TV Everywhere initiative, which aims to extend the reach of Univision programming across all screens, including mobile Web and apps, as well as offer more personalized live and on-demand content.

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