Citing prevailing market conditions, Univision today said it will not move forward with its proposed initial public offering and requested the withdrawal of its Form S-1 on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Talks of a Univision IPO go back at least six years, with the company hiring handlers and filing the Form S-1 with the SEC in 2015. That filing showed multimillion-dollar losses. Market conditions forced the company to postpone the IPO.
In the most recent quarter, Univision reported a $104 million profit, but it will likely feel the loss of World Cup advertising this year – the first time it won’t air the games in its history, as Telemundo prepares to capitalize on its ownership of the Spanish-broadcasting rights to this year’s competition in Russia.
Univision also announced that it has promoted Peter H. Lori to Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Francisco (Frank) J. Lopez-Balboa who is leaving the company.
A former Goldman Sachs banker investment banker, Lopez-Balboa was hired in 2015 to help shepherd the elusive IPO.
At the time, Lori was the interim CFO.
Lori who joined the company in 2005, was most recently Executive Vice President, Finance, Chief Accounting Officer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer for UCI.