Research Update: Univision Communications Inc. Ratings Remain On Watch Positive, New Senior Secured Debt Assigned Preliminary 'B+' Rating

U.S.-based Spanish-language multimedia company Univision Communications Inc. is proposing to issue a $1.05 billion senior secured term loan and $1.05 billion of senior secured notes to partially fund its proposed merger with Grupo Televisa S.A.B.'s media assets. We expect the company's pro forma net S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage will decline to between 6.1x and 6.3x in 2021 because of the proposed merger, which is below our 6.5x upgrade threshold for the current 'B' rating. All of our existing ratings on Univision remain on CreditWatch, where we placed them with positive implications on April 14, 2021, until the merger closes later in 2021. We assigned our preliminary 'B+' issue-level rating and '3' recovery rating to the company's proposed senior secured term

... Univision Communications Inc. is proposing to issue a $1.05 billion senior secured term loan and $1.05 billion of senior secured notes to partially fund its proposed merger with Grupo Televisa S.A.B.'s media assets. - We expect the company's pro forma net S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage will decline to between 6.1x and 6.3x in 2021 because of the proposed merger, which is below our 6.5x upgrade threshold for the current 'B' rating. - All of our existing ratings on Univision remain on CreditWatch, where we placed them with positive implications on April 14, 2021, until the merger closes later in 2021. - We assigned our preliminary 'B+' issue-level rating and '3' recovery rating to the company's proposed senior secured term loan and notes. - The positive CreditWatch reflects that we expect to raise our issuer credit rating on Univision to 'B+' from 'B' when the merger closes based on our forecast that its pro forma leverage will improve...

Research Update