Elie Habib and Joe Kawkabani
OSN+, one of the leading streaming platforms for premium content in Middle East and North Africa, and Anghami, a leading music and entertainment streaming platform in the MENA region, announced a deal that will combine their businesses. A first of its kind in the region, the combination of the two local home-grown brands will offer consumers unprecedented digital aggregation of the best and latest in premium movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, and more while providing a rich and seamless user experience.
Backed by a cash investment of up to US$50 million from OSN Group in Anghami, the deal will bring together over 120 million registered users, more than 2.5 million paying subscribers with over US$100 million in revenue at closing, transforming Anghami into one of the region's largest streaming platforms. Anghami boasts a catalogue of over 100 million songs, with exclusives from artists such as Amr Diab, the all-time best-selling Middle Eastern artist, while OSN+ has over 18,000 hours of video content and exclusive partnership with premium international studios such as HBO, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and leading Arabic and Turkish studios.
With customer-centricity at its core, the new platform will be committed to offering the best product and content experience in the region. Recognizing the power of both brands, the platform will leverage Anghami's strong tech stack and rich music catalogue coupled with OSN+'s library of premium video content to deliver a unique digital streaming experience with AI-driven hyper personalization that prioritizes recommendations based on user preference.
“Joining forces with OSN+ is a leap in Anghami's journey to reinvent entertainment in the Arab World. We are bringing together technology, music and video to build a comprehensive media ecosystem. It is a chance to deepen our connection with our users and to create something they will truly love,” commented Elie Habib, Co-founder of Anghami and set to be the CEO of the combined business.
Joe Kawkabani, CEO OF OSN Group, added: “This is a major milestone in OSN's journey as we continue to scale up our streaming business. Combining OSN+ content with Anghami's technology enables us to deliver the best of entertainment all in one place for our customers, ensuring we are continuously evolving our offering to meet their needs. As two home-grown entities with an unmatched understanding of the local market, we are confident that this new offering will change the face of the regional streaming landscape.”
The OSN Group will invest in Anghami at a valuation of US$3.65 per share, 3.9x the stock's average price for the past month. Anghami intends to maintain the listing of its ordinary shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market following the closing of the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Following the closing of the transaction, OSN Group will own a majority stake in Anghami.
The final amount of the OSN Group's cash investment in Anghami and the final number of Anghami securities to be issued in a private placement to the OSN Group is subject to adjustment based on the terms of the definitive transaction agreement. In addition to its stake in Anghami, OSN will continue to run its linear TV business OSNtv, with Joe Kawkabani as Group CEO.