Music streaming firm Deezer seeks to raise EUR 300m with share offer

(PARIS) - French music streaming service Deezer announced Thursday it aimed to raise 300 million euros via an initial public offering, as it bids to shore up its position in the ultra-competitive industry.

Deezer said it was issuing between six million and eight million new shares on the market.

The price will vary between 36.40 euros and 49.24 euros per share, but so will the number of shares issued, to ensure the total amount raised hits the target of 300 million euros ($345 million).

After the operation, the company as a whole would be worth between 900 million and 1.1 billion euros, said Deezer operations director Simon Baldeyrou.

Rival Spotify is valued at more than $8 billion.

Announcing the firm's intention to sell shares to the public, chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht said Tuesday the music-streaming market "is growing faster now and is set to become the main means of music distribution."

Founded in 2007, the company raised its last private funding of 100 million euros from Russian-American billionaire Len Blavatnik in 2012.

With 6.3 million subscribers and 16 million individual users each month, Deezer is aiming to speed up its development, especially internationally, where the competition is fierce.

Its main rival, Sweden's Spotify, claims 75 million users, of whom 20 million subscribe to its paying version.