Audiowell, the highly profitable Swedish indie record label and music publisher, is heading for the stock market through a reverse takeover of Gothenburg-based, publicly traded sleep tracking company Sleep Cycle. The deal is valued at SEK 2.25 billion, and Sleep Cycle’s shares jumped about 20% on the news.
The Deal
Payment is made through a non-cash share issue of 92 million new Sleep Cycle shares at a subscription price of SEK 24.5 per share, a premium of more than 22%. Existing Sleep Cycle shareholders will be diluted by about 82%, and Audiowell will end up with roughly 82% of the shares and votes in the company.
Anna Bäck, board member at Sleep Cycle, said in a press release: “We are convinced that the combination of Sleep Cycle’s world-leading technical platform and Audiowell’s extensive catalogue of music has the potential to increase growth in both existing and new markets.”
Gustav Forssell, CEO of Audiowell, added: “I look forward to continuing to develop our joint offering in media and technology together with future colleagues at Sleep Cycle, to help our customers feel better in everyday life.”
Who Owns Audiowell
Financier Harald Mix’s private equity firm Altor owns 48% of Audiowell. The founders of its highly profitable Queenstreet label, producers Josef Svedlund and Andreas Romdhane, each own 25% of Audiowell Holding AB through their companies Phatfly Music AB and Pop-Notch Music AB. The latter decided on an extra dividend of SEK 100 million at an extraordinary general meeting this spring.
A Profit Machine
Audiowell owns a range of companies in the music niche, including Queenstreet. In 2025, Queenstreet reported a result after financial items of SEK 177 million on net sales of SEK 268 million. Its annual report also shows a planned SEK 130 million payout to its owners.
Breakit revealed in January last year that a process had begun to sell Audiowell.
