Cross-border team represents Anghami on merger agreement with NASDAQ-listed Vistas Media Acquisition Company

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised Anghami on its definitive merger agreement with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. (VMAC), a US-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 

The deal will mark a milestone in Nasdaq listings, with Anghami becoming the first Arab technology company to list on Nasdaq New York upon closing. 

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Anghami is the leading music streaming service in the Middle East and North Africa with the largest catalog comprising of more than 57 million songs available for more than 70 million users. Anghami is the first legal music streaming platform and digital distribution company in the Arab world.

Anghami is currently supported by Middle East and North African venture capital firms and strategic shareholders—including media and telecom corporations—which collectively own approximately 68 percent of Anghami, with the remainder owned by the founders.

SPACs have become a popular method of going public. While the structure has been around for decades, the number of SPAC IPOs has increased in each of the last four years, with more than 130 initial public offerings of SPACs in 2020 raising more than US$50 billion in gross proceeds. Norton Rose Fulbright routinely represents both SPACs and private companies merging with SPACs (de-SPAC transactions) to become publicly traded.

Led by Ayşe Yüksel Mahfoud (New York and Istanbul) and Brian Fenske (Houston), the Norton Rose Fulbright deal team also included Trevor Pinkerton, David Moore, Rishika Sengupta (Houston) and Cem Tecimer (Istanbul). Todd Schroeder (Dallas) advised on tax matters.