Just because a private equity-consortium bought Univision doesn’t mean it’ll own it for long.
Over the last few years, the frothy deal environment has prompted private-equity firms to eschew the historical three- to five-year exit horizon in favor of “quick flips” – that is, selling a company less than two years after its acquisition, often at a handsome profit.
Satellite operator PanAmSat was merged into Intelsat just one year after it was bought by a group of private-equity firms, for instance. Financial buyers flipped energy company Texas Genco and electronics outfit Fidelity National Information Services only six months after closing those purchases.
Indeed, it may be more accurate to think of Univision’s new owners as borrowing rather than buying the nation’s No. 1 Spanish-language broadcaster.
Those who believe a quick flip is possible say strategic buyers such as CBS, Disney, News Corp. or Time Warner will take it off their hands.
Of the Univision purchase, one source close to the winning bidders said, “We didn’t go into it with a quick flip in mind. But we are a private-equity firm, so everything’s for sale at the right price.”
And it’s not as though strategic buyers weren’t interested in Univision – the CEOs of CBS, Disney, Time Warner and News Corp., which also owns The Post, all expressed interest in buying the company but were distracted by their own issues or scared off by valuation.