Thanks to the mega-merger between Televisa and Univision Communications, the world’s biggest producer of Spanish-language audio and video content is today known as TelevisaUnivision. That said, Univision Communications remains a U.S.-based subsidiary.
That’s key for investors and for debt holders, and for CEO Wade Davis too. And, it explains why the company, which has failed for years to get an initial public offering and gain a ticker symbol on a financial market, just priced a significant note offering.
Univision priced its offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of 8.000% senior secured notes due 2028. The note offering is expected to close on or about August 7, subject to customary closing conditions.
Why is TelevisaUnivision engineering the note offering?
It intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with cash on hand, to prepay approximately $261.3 million of its term loans due 2024. This represents the entire outstanding principal amount, TelevisaUnivision says.
The remaining proceeds will be used to redeem approximately $238.7 million of the $1,479,400,000 outstanding aggregate principal amount of its 5.125% senior secured notes due 2025.
The prepayment and redemption are expected to occur substantially concurrently with the closing of this offering, TelevisaUnivision shared.
As RBR+TVBR reported Friday, TelevisaUnivision continues to experience high expenses associated with ViX, its splashy front-and-center OTT platform that has dominated Davis’ discussions of late. While the company’s consolidated Q2 2023 revenue rose 6% to $1.07 billion, largely thanks to a 12% revenue gain in Mexico, Davis confirmed that TelevisaUnivision experienced a net loss of $3 million due to a 17% surge in total operating expenses. That $710 million in spending is tied to investments in ViX.
