MBC Group snaps up a nearly 14% stake in Anghami ahead of OSN-Anghami merger.

Saudi Arabia’s leading media conglomerate MBC Group has recently made an acquisition of 4,074,533 ordinary shares in music streaming app, Anghami via the help of the MBC Ventures arm. The media conglomerate takes up approximately 13.7% ownership stake in the Nasdaq-listed company. Soon after the recent acquisition, Anghami’s share price witnessed a hike of 59 per cent on March 20, 2024, closing at $1.59 million, up from $1 million on March 19, 2024. This increased the value of MBC’s 13.7 per cent stake to $6.48 million from $4.074 million. The firm went public in January on the Saudi Exchange with an oversubscribed IPO of 66x, or in other words $14.53 billion. The media conglomerate raised $221.6 million in the IPO, giving it an implied market capitalisation of $2.21 billion. Last year, in August, the music platform Anghami which was established in the year 2012 by entrepreneurs Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib in Lebanon, raised a $5 million investment from Saudi Ventures Capital firm SRMG Ventures. 

MBC Group, the media consortium of Saudi Arabia’s ownership in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) music streaming platform Anghami has created a massive wave in the MENA. The ownership was filed under the presence of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The terms and conditions regarding the acquisition were not disclosed, however by looking at the music platform’s closing price of $1.00 on March 19, the last trading day before the transaction was disclosed, the purchase was worth roughly around $4.074 million.

On Wednesday, 20th of March 2024, the share price of Anghami surged up to 59% after revealing MBC’s stake in the company to the public. It closed at $1.59, which gave a valuation of $6.48 million to the 13.7% stake of MBC in the company. 

Anghami witnessed the highest share price at market close on the same day after a long time since December 13, 2023. 

The MBC Group, previously called the Middle East Broadcasting Center, is a state-owned media conglomerate in Saudi Arabia. The company which owns several TV Channels, radio stations, studios, and other entertainment brands, went public on the Saudi Exchange in January. 

The IPO of MBC Group was oversubscribed by 66x, or SAR 54.5 billion (approximately $14.53 billion). This enabled the company to raise an amount of SAR832 million ($221.6 million) from the IPO, with a hinted or suggested market capitalization of SAR8.3 billion ($2.21 billion).

This planned collaboration between a media giant which has been in the market for a long time and Anghami, a dynamically evolving and progressing digital platform, marks a pivotal development for the MENA’s entertainment landscape.

The digital music platform, Anghami was founded by Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib in Lebanon in 2012. The entrepreneurs with their Anghami rapidly amassed a subscriber base exceeding 1.73 million users across the MENA regions as of the third quarter of 2023. The platform offers users a vast library of both Arabic and International music catering to diverse tastes.

Despite that, the music platform faces tough competition from global giants such as Spotify, which has been eyeing the lucrative MENA market. Over a year ago, it was rumoured that Spotify was eyeing to acquire a stake of ownership in Anghami although no deal has come to fruition since then. 

IFPI recognised MENA as the world’s fastest-growing music market in 2021 and the third-fastest in 2022. The successful collaboration between MBC Group and Anghami further ignites several advantages. While MBC boasts a well-established distribution network across the Middle East, encompassing popular free-to-air channels and on-demand streaming services like Shahid VIP, Anghami can utilise this to its benefit to expand Anghami’s reach and user base. In addition, MBC’s expertise in content creation could lead to collaborations on original music programming or exclusive content deals with artists, further enhancing Anghami’s offerings.

On the other hand, the investment by MBC Group in Anghami will expand its foothold in the media streaming market and strengthen its position as an emerging leader in the region’s media & entertainment landscape. This deal also enables MBC to tap into Anghami’s younger user demographic and potentially leverage the platform to promote its own content libraries.