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E-Vision, the entertainment arm of e&, the largest telecommunications operator in the UAE, and Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ Transaction completed acquire majority stake in a video streaming service Starzplay Arab.
A consortium led by e& has completed the acquisition of a 57% stake in the fastest growing video streaming service in the Middle East and North Africa, e& said in a filing with the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) on Tuesday.
“The acquisition is in line with e&life’s strategy to expand the e&life consumer digital entertainment vertical by accelerating E-Vision’s development in video streaming,” it said.
“It also significantly enhances Starzplay Arabia’s positioning across the MENA region.”
Acquisition Completion Follows preliminary announcement transactional March. Other shareholders of Starzplay Arabia include Starz, SEQ Investors and E-Vision. Starz and its parent company Lionsgate will maintain a commercial agreement for the joint venture’s content license.
Netflix, MBC Group’s Shahid VIP and UAE-based Starzplay Arabia control two-thirds of Mena’s OTT market in terms of subscriptions, May report According to technology research firm Omdia.
According to the report, Shahid VIP and Netflix each have about 22 percent of the market, while Starzplay controls 20 percent of the market.
E-Vision’s 66.7%-owned Abu Dhabi consortium has acquired a controlling stake in Starzplay Arabia.
In an exchange filing, e& said E-Vision committed to pay up to $130 million in cash and in-kind, including a portion tied to earnings.
Starzplay Arabia will be incorporated into E-Vision’s finances starting this month, according to the statement.
The deal values ​​the platform at $420 million and will add Inject cash to invest Entering the business of getting new content and producing more original content in the region, Maaz Sheikh, Co-founder and CEO star playTell National in August.
“It was a transformative event for the company, almost like a dream come true for employees and management,” he said at the time.
Starzplay is using the investment to add new content such as Italy’s Serie A, get the rights to AFC (Asian Football Confederation) matches, add the UFC to the platform and stream Asian Cup cricket matches. It will also focus on original programming from the Middle East.
According to Sheikh, the video streaming service expects annual revenue in 2022 to increase by 40% from the previous year, mainly thanks to its popular content in anime and sports genres.
The platform’s revenue for the first six months of 2022 rose 40% year-over-year, while the number of subscribers rose 20% to 2.1 million over the same period.
Starzplay aims to be profitable by the second quarter of 2024, Sheikh said.
ADQ Group Chief Investment Officer Jaap Kalkman said in March that the investment in Starzplay Arabia gives ADQ access to key subscription video-on-demand and OTT service providers in the region.
Khalifa Al Shamsi, CEO of e& life and Chairman of E-Vision, in partnership with Starzplay Arabia will allow e& to customize content options for its customers, while the fast download speeds of 5G will enable viewers to use virtual and augmented reality for immersive experience, March said.
Updated: 10/18/2022 7:33am
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