Lew Meets Akazoo
• Lew Dickey‘s Modern Media Acquisition Corp. (MMDM) has made its first steps into the blinding light of day with the announcement that his new company has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with UK-based digital music streaming platform Akazoo Ltd., in a transaction that would value the combined company at approximately $469 million. Under the definitive agreement, MMDM and Akazoo will combine under a new holding company (referred to as “Holdco”), based in Luxembourg, which intends to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol “SONG” following completion of the transaction.
In its ninth year of operation, Akazoo is a leading music streaming service specializing in emerging markets with 4.3 million premium subscribers in 25 countries throughout Europe, South East Asia, South America and Africa. MMDM is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, acquisition or similar business combination sponsored by Modern Media, LLC, an entity jointly owned by Lew Dickey, MMDM’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and an affiliate of Macquarie Capital.
The combined company will continue to be led by Akazoo’s management team under the leadership of Apostolos N. Zervos, Akazoo’s Founder & CEO. Dickey, who will serve as Chairman of the combined company, commented, “We are excited to enter into this transaction with Akazoo. It’s a terrific company with strong management led by Founder & CEO, Apostolos Zervos. As one of the pioneering companies in the space, they have spent the last decade building a profitable business model with a strong competitive moat in emerging markets. Music streaming is one of the best secular growth stories in global media and entertainment, and Akazoo is a top global platform that we expect will benefit tremendously from an infusion of growth equity and a public currency to participate in further industry consolidation.”
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Akazoo and MMDM and is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
