The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) music streaming service Anghami has seen the silent acquisition of a 13.7% stake by the Saudi Arabian media conglomerate MBC Group.
According to an ownership filing that Anghami made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, MBC Group acquired 4,074,533 common shares in the Nasdaq-listed company through its MBC Ventures arm.
The investment’s financial details were not made public, but the purchase was valued at approximately $4.074 million based on Anghami’s closing price of $1.00 on March 19, the final trading day before the transaction was made public.
Following the public disclosure of MBC’s ownership position in the company on Wednesday, March 20, Anghami’s share price increased by 59%. At $1.59, it closed, making MBC’s 13.7% ownership worth $6.48 million.
At Wednesday’s market close, the price of Anghami’s shares reached its highest point since December 13, 2023.
Formerly the Middle East Broadcasting Center, MBC Group is a Saudi Arabian state-owned media company. The company went public on the Saudi Exchange in January and is the owner of several TV channels, radio stations, studios, and other entertainment brands.
The IPO saw 66x oversubscription, or SAR 54.5 billion (roughly $14.53 billion). Through the IPO, the company raised SAR831 million ($221.6 million), indicating a market capitalization of SAR8.3 billion ($2.21 billion).
A major advancement for the MENA entertainment sector is represented by this strategic alliance between Anghami, a quickly expanding digital platform, and a well-known media powerhouse.
Founded in 2012 in Lebanon by entrepreneurs Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun, Anghami has over 1.73 million users in the MENA region as of the third quarter of 2023. To accommodate a wide range of preferences, the platform provides a sizable collection of Arabic and foreign music.
Global behemoths like Spotify, which has its sights set on the lucrative MENA market, present Anghami with fierce competition. It was rumored more than a year ago that Spotify was considering buying Anghami, but no agreement has materialized since then.
The world’s fastest-growing music market in 2021 and the third-fastest in 2022, according to IFPI, was the Middle East and North Africa.
Anghami benefits in several ways from its partnership with MBC Group. Popular free-to-air channels and on-demand streaming services like Shahid VIP are all part of MBC’s well-established distribution network in the Middle East.
