June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Grupo Televisa SA and its partners plan to bid for Univision Communications Inc., the biggest U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster, as soon as today after the defection of three members from the group, said two people with knowledge of the situation.

Two members, Bain Capital LLC and Cascade Investment LLC, will increase their contribution to help make up for the departures of Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group LP and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the people said.

A bid by Televisa may revive the sale of Univision, which stalled when Televisa was unable to pull together an offer. Shares of Los Angeles-based Univision rose today after falling 8.3 percent this week on concern the company wouldn't fetch the $13 billion analysts had forecast. A separate offer from a group including billionaire Haim Saban was less than $11 billion, people said.

``These funds are taking a hard, close look at the valuation and the growth potential of the company,'' said Phil Remek, an analyst at Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables, Florida. ``There's been a disconnect between the market speculation and the due diligence these companies were engaged in.''

Shares of Univision rose as much as $1.12 to $33.92 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock had risen 7.4 percent since Chief Executive Officer Jerrold Perenchio, 75, put the company up for sale in February.

Best Offer?

KKR, Blackstone and Carlyle this week dropped out of the Televisa group amid disagreements over how much to offer for Univision, said people familiar with the decision.

The Televisa group also includes Venevision Investments LLC. Televisa may bring in more investors later to help fund the bid, said the people, who declined to be identified because the offer is confidential.

``We are confident that our offer will be the best,'' said Antonieta de Lopez, a spokeswoman for Cisneros Group, which owns Venevision. She wouldn't elaborate.

A spokeswoman for Televisa in New York and Alex Stanton, a spokesman for Boston-based Bain, declined to comment, as did Univision spokeswoman Stephanie Pillersdorf. Kirkland, Washington-based Cascade, the investment company of Bill Gates, didn't return calls seeking comment left with the firm's receptionist.

Saban, 62, and Providence, Rhode Island-based Providence Equity are in a group that includes Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Boston-based Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth, Texas.

Texas Pacific spokesman Owen Blicksilver and Providence spokesman Andrew Cole declined to comment, as did Thomas H. Lee co-President Scott Sperling and Madison Dearborn CEO John Canning.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Cimilluca in New York at dcimilluca@bloomberg.net; Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: June 23, 2006 09:22 EDT