Deezer lists on Euronext in Paris

The company confirmed that it would go public via a merger with French special purpose acquisition company I2PO in April. The listing comes seven years after the platform failed on its previous attempt at an IPO.

This makes Deezer the latest music streaming service to become a publicly listed company this year after MENA-focused Anghami also joined the NASDAQ in February.

Speaking during the bell ringing ceremony, Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said going public in the company’s home country was really important. 

Deezer’s shares opened at €8.50 ($8.75) on Tuesday, but fell to €7.950 by 7.39am GMT. As of 5 July, Access Industries had the biggest the share capital chunk in the company (38.06%) with 44 753 926 ordinary shares, while telecoms giant Orange Participations SA owns the second largest, with 9 561 723 ordinary shares, or 8.13% of the firm’s share capital.

During the bell ringing ceremony, Folgueira said they felt that it was the right time to become a publicly listed company. “In the last year since I joined, we started to reposition Deezer with a new strategy to capture a share in the fast-growing music streaming market that still has plenty of potential."

He added: “This is a historical day for our company and I would like to start by thanking everyone that made this day possible. The shareholders of Deezer that have been supporting us for many years led by Access Industries, our strategic partners such as Orange that have also been instrumental in our success, but most importantly for all the Deezer employees current and former that have worked really hard for the last 15 years to make this a success and take this to where it is today.

“We believe that we are in a really good position to take the company to the next level, and as a publicly listed company, really get the most out of our opportunities. We are focusing on large markets and we are focusing on replicating the very successful model we have in France of our hybrid B2B to C model and doubling down on differentiation, creating a really unique product built on innovation and great customer experience.

“This transaction also shows, not only the support we have from our shareholders, but also the belief from new shareholders, on our vision, our strategy, and also the potential for value creation that Deezer brings. We already see some of the results of our new strategy with our growth, having accelerated substantially in the last year and reaching double digits in Q1. We believe that we are in a really good position to take the company to the next level, and as a publicly listed company, really get the most out of our opportunities.”