Wade Davis de Univision
“No anti-competitive effects derived from the transaction are expected in these coinciding activities of Univision Holdings and Grupo Televisa, largely due to the marginal participation of Univision Holdings in Mexico,” said on September 14, Mexico’s telecommunications regulator IFT (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones) in a statement fully approving the merger.
Last April, the companies announced the merger of their assets to create Televisa-Univision, a new entity that will have the largest library of content and intellectual property in the Spanish language.
The IFT approval does not prejudge other approvals that the parties must obtain from other instances.
Grupo Televisa will retain ownership of the telecommunications and broadcasting concessions in Mexico, including channels that are programmed by “Sky” and “Izzi” and the advertising that they have the right to commercialize, the IFT detailed.
Grupo Televisa will receive a value of US$4.8 billion and will become the largest shareholder in the new Televisa-Univision, acquiring 45% of its shares. It is estimated that Televisa-Univision will be a company that achieves estimated joint sales in the order of US$4 billion and an EBITDA of US$1.6 billion, with a margin of more than 40% due to synergies derived from the integration.
To complete the merger, what’s left is the approval of the US telecommunications regulator, since a Univision subsidiary offers content that is distributed on open television, restricted television, sound broadcasting, and platforms and systems that operate over the Internet in that country.
View IFT statement here*
*Only available in Spanish
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Televisa-Univision leading global Spanish-language multi-media company
