According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the famous messaging platform Telegram is raising at least 1.5 billion USD through convertible bond issuance. This issuance marks an important strategic move by Telegram in the context that the platform has reached over 1 billion monthly active users globally, but is still operating without generating profits.
The bonds are issued with a 5-year term and a 9% yield, and are designed as convertible bonds, allowing investors to convert the loan into Telegram's shares with a preferential discount if the company conducts an IPO in the future. This financial structure helps Telegram attract a large amount of capital while opening up the possibility of distributing shares to strategic investors when listing stocks.
The world's leading investment institutions have shown interest and participated in this capital raising round, including BlackRock – the world's largest asset management company, Mubadala – the national investment fund of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Citadel – one of the most influential global multinational hedge funds. The participation of these major names demonstrates the level of credibility and high expectations for the platform's long-term development potential.
The capital raised from the new bond issuance will be used by Telegram primarily to repurchase the old bond lot issued in 2021, which is due to mature in March 2026. It is known that Telegram has spent about 400 million USD in cash to buy back part of the old bonds ahead of schedule, demonstrating proactive financial management and efforts to restructure debt more effectively.
Information about Telegram's capital raising plan not only attracts attention from the technology investment community but also opens up positive forecasts about the possibility of an IPO in the near future, as the company seeks sustainable steps to expand its scale and generate profits.
