Owners of Telegram’s convertible bonds will not participate in the management of the company and will not be able to influence its operations. This was stated by Telegram founder Pavel Durov in response to users’ concerns.
One of the readers of Durov’s channel noted that the messenger’s investors include the son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump and his former adviser Jared Kushner. According to the user, Kushner, “a representative of the regime,” “has gained leverage over Telegram.”
Durov noted that bonds do not give buyers any advantages:
“Owning bonds does not give any meaningful levers of pressure, nor does a \”friendship\” with someone who owns the bonds. This is a form of debt that any investor can now buy on the secondary market. None of these investors gains any rights to manage Telegram or influence its policy,” he wrote.
The founder of Telegram emphasised that the bond issue allowed them to raise funds without sacrificing their independence.
According to previously announced information, the bonds give holders the option to convert them into the company’s shares with a 10% discount to the issue price in the event of an IPO within the next five years.
The total stake that investors could obtain is unknown and depends on Telegram’s share valuation. Based on calculations by VTB Capital, which set the lower bound of the messenger’s value at $2.2 billion, the Telegram channel “Non-digital Economy” did not rule out that “taking into account the discount, bondholders could obtain a controlling stake.”
The channel, citing an informed source, also reported that there were no formal obligations for investors to conduct an IPO.
“But everyone understands that he has no other choice – there will be nowhere for the messenger to obtain funds to repay the bonds,” the channel’s authors add.
In March, Telegram attracted over $1 billion through the sale of convertible bonds. Pavel Durov confirmed this information.
The biggest investors were funds from the United Arab Emirates — Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners. In total they bought bonds worth $150 million.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) bought a minority stake in Mubadala Investment Company’s investments worth about $2 million.
From 26 March, the Saint Petersburg Exchange opened trading of Telegram bonds for qualified investors.
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