...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 25, 2020--Miami-based Spanish-language multimedia company Univision Communications Inc. ('B/Stable') announced today that financial sponsors Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight have signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 64% ownership stake in the company from its current group of financial sponsors (including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Saban Capital Group, TPG Global, and Thomas H. Lee Partners). While Univision has not yet disclosed the purchase price or other terms of the acquisition, we believe the company's leverage will not materially increase as a result of the transaction. Univision's leverage is currently elevated at 7.7x (annualized for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2019), with a heavy debt load of about $7.4 billion. Like its English-language network peers, Univision is exposed to secular challenges facing linear television due to increasing audience fragmentation. While no rating action is warranted at...
