Billionaire Francois Pinault and partners are set to buy Deezer in a US$1.1b deal

BILLIONAIRE Francois Pinault and the other founders of a blank-check firm are set to buy music-streaming platform Deezer in a deal valued at more than US$1 billion.

The family office of Kering founder Francois Pinault, as well as 2 other founding members of I2PO, a blank-check firm that listed in Paris last year, are set to announce they're buying the French company for an enterprise value of at least 1.05 billion euros (US$1.1 billion), according to 3 people familiar with the transaction.

The combined entity is raising at least 120 million euros with the original investors as well as new ones and plans to take Deezer public in Paris around July once the deal closes, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn't yet public.

Deezer is an unprofitable streaming platform that competes with Spotify Technology, another loss-making platform, as well as Apple Music.

Deezer's biggest markets are France, Brazil and Germany, and it wants to expand notably in the US and the UK, the people said.

The platform will seek to penetrate more markets by expanding its partnership deals, such as the one it has with broadcaster RTL in Germany. Deezer is seeking to reach profitability by 2025, one of the people said.

The streaming service will keep chief executive officer Jeronimo Folgueira and chief financial officer Stephane Rougeot in their current roles.

Chairman Guillaume d'Hauteville will be replaced by Iris Knobloch, one of I2PO's founders and a former WarnerMedia executive, before the end of the year, one of the people said. Banker Matthieu Pigasse, the head of Centerview Partners in France, is the third founder of I2PO.

Deezer previously tried to go public in 2015 but postponed the IPO due to market conditions, it said at the time. The company's shareholders include Access Industries, a fund set up by Len Blavatnik, as well as Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding and phone carrier Orange.

Centerview Partners advised the I2PO founders on the deal. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Deezer was nearing a deal with I2PO to go public via SPAC.

A representative for I2PO declined to comment. Deezer didn't immediately reply when asked to comment. BLOOMBERG