Hans-Holger Albrecht, who is the CEO of the music streaming service Deezer, once again signaled his plans for an IPO.
He says that the company will go public sometime in the next 12-18 months, with the exact time being dependent on market conditions.
In 2015, Deezer was planning an IPO that it hoped would raise close to $330 million for the company. But it backed out of it after failing to convince investors.
In an interview with The National, Albrecht pointed to other successful music IPOs, including that of Spotify, which in April of last year received a valuation of more than $26 billion. He believes that Deezer is “the right size” to issue an IPO “if everything goes well.” Exactly what that means is unclear.
Deezer has some big investors, including Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who in August of last year invested 1 billion Saudi riyals ($270 million) in the company. Warner Music, Sony, Universal as well as telecommunication company Orange and French tycoon Xavier Niel also have interests. At the time of Alwaleed’s investment, the company was valued at about $1.1 billion.
Albrecht insists that the company does not need to raise more money at the moment, but he also insists that they could if they wanted to. He categorized Deezer as being “well-funded” and in “a very fortunate situation.”
Deezer began operations way back in 2007. It currently has 14 million active monthly users spread across 185 countries. The company’s catalog includes over 56 million songs as well as other content.
Last October, Deezer entered both North Africa and the Middle East, and they are expecting significant growth in the coming months from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE. It is in markets like these — markets that are small for Spotify, Apple and Amazon — that the company sees itself succeeding.