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Is Emilio Azcarraga Jean set to become the king of media in the Americas?

The looming IPO of U.S. Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications Univision Communications has put the focus on a consortium of private equity firms that could be in for a big payday, but the person probably best set up to profit from it is Emilio Azcarraga Jean, the billionaire who controls Televisa. While regulations barring foreign ownership of media assets has limited his control over Televisa, Azcarrga Jean controls nearly 40% of Univision taking into account direct and indirect ownership. Hes also one of the broadcasters main providers of contents, earning his Mexico-based Televisa rich fees which could increase in tandem with the ever-growing Latino population of the United States. Soon enough, Azcarraga Jean could become the king of Spanish media in the U.S. And the way things are going, simply, the king of all media.

Univision hired a group of banks including some Wall Street heavyweights to explore a public offering expected for the second half of 2015 which aims to raise more than $1 billion at a $20 billion valuation that includes debt, a report by Reuters revealed on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank will be responsible for the IPO of Univision, which according to Moodys generated $2.9 billion in sales last year.

Univision Communications Univision Communications is one of the countrys largest broadcasters, sometimes beating English-language giants like ABC, CBS CBS, NBC, and Fox Fox during primetime, according to the FT. And the future looks even rosier: according to U.S. Census Bureau, there were roughly 54 million Hispanics living in the U.S. in 2013, or 17% of the total population. That figure is set to rise to 128.8 million by 2060, they estimate, or about 31%.

Univision is right there to profit from it. According to Fitch Ratings, Univision benefits from a premier industry position, with duopoly television and radio stations in most of the top Hispanic markets, with a national overlay of broadcast and cable networks. They indicate Univisions EBITDA margin is between 38% and 40%, which translates to as much as $1.16 billion.

That puts Azcarraga Jeans Televisa in a position to continue to make bank from the U.S. Their latest annual report, for 2013, shows they made at least 5.15% of their revenue from Univision, where they reveal they control 38% of the company. As I wrote in 2010, the deal inked by Azcarraga Jean and Univisions management only increased the U.S. companys reliance on the self-proclaimed largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, feeding more of Televisas soap operas and other programs into Univisions platforms. It also cleared up some legal issues pertaining to digital distribution, which is expected to continue growing as more and more users access content through smartphones and tablets; today, Univision derives 5% of their revenues from digital.

Azcarraga Jean had actually tried to buy Univision in 2006, but was outbid by a group led by Saban Capital along with Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and TPG Capital, which took it private for $12.3 billion. As is the norm, they loaded the company up with debt, which stood at $10.5 billion by the end of 2014.

Univisions IPO could be one of the largest media offerings in the past several years, and it could help make the private equity consortium, along with Azcarraga Jean (collectively Broadcast Media Partners) very rich returns on their investment. The real opportunity, though, is for the Mexican billionaire, who could use the capital to double-down on the U.S. which could soon become the largest Spanish-speaking market in the world. If demographic trends prove to be true, it could also give Azcarraga Jean a stranglehold on Spanish-language media cross the continent, making him the media king of the Americas, from Alaska to Argentina.

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Univision's IPO Could Make Mexican Billionaire Emilio Azcarraga Jean The King Of American Media