LOS ANGELES – Shareholders have filed two lawsuits against Univision Communications Inc. and its board members, claiming they breached their fiduciary duty when they agreed earlier this week to sell the Spanish-language broadcaster to a consortium of private investors.
Both lawsuits were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and seek class-action status.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of a shareholder identified as L A Murphy, seeks a court order blocking the sale of the company “at a price that is not fair and equitable,” and unspecified damages to the class of shareholders.
Among the allegations in the lawsuit, Murphy says Univision’s board put its own personal interests and the interests of the winning bidder ahead of shareholders, failed to adequately evaluate the company’s worth, and failed to create “an active and open auction for Univision products.”
A suit filed Wednesday claims Univision’s board structured the buyout deal with an eye to benefiting company insiders, not average shareholders.
Late Monday, the company accepted a $36.25 per share cash offer that equals about $12.3 billion, not including about $1.4 billion in debt.
The winning bid was submitted by a group of investors including Texas Pacific Group Inc., Thomas H. Lee Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Providence Equity Partners Inc. and media mogul Haim Saban.
The other consortium was led by Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa SA, and included private equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Cascade Investment LLC, which invests for billionaire Bill Gates.
