This Smaller Spotify Rival Looks to Go Public via €1.05 Billion SPAC Merger

Headphone beside a smartphone connected to French music streaming website Deezer in Paris, on Oct. 9, 2012. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

Spotify Technology SA.’s smaller French rival Deezer looks to go public via a SPAC merger backed by billionaire Francois Pinault’s investment group and investment banker Matthieu Pigasse, the Financial Times reports.

Deezer merged with I2PO, a Paris-listed special purpose acquisition company.

The SPAC raised €135 million in the form of Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing.

France’s billionaire Pinault family backed the SPAC through its Artemis investment arm, alongside Iris Knobloch, a director at Lazard Ltd. and former president of Warner Bros.Discovery Inc. in France and Germany, and Picasso, head of Centerview Partners in France.

The deal values the streaming service at €1.05 billion.

Deezer has 9.6 million paying subscribers compared to Spotify’s 180 million. In 2021, Deezer last year made up about 2 percent of global music streaming subscribers, compared to Spotify’s 31 percent, Apple Inc.’s 15 percent, and Amazon.com Inc.’s 13 percent.

By Anusuya Lahiri

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