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Prime Minister Edi Rama slammed the “hardline” controllers in a tweet, writing: “Serious sabotage of the activity of Mother Teresa Airport will not be tolerated!”
He also claimed the opposition was supporting the strike in an attempt to prevent coronavirus (COVID-19) deliveries by air to Albania.
A video posted by Defence Minister Niko Peleshi on his Facebook page shows armoured military police vehicles driving through the airport to the control tower.
“Rinas Airport Mother Teresa is a strategic object of special importance for national security. Our Armed Forces structures, as an integral part of the airport, have increased vigilance
to ensure the maintenance of the airport security perimeter especially after the boycott of work by the controllers of the civil aviation company Albcontrol,” wrote Peleshi.
Telegram messenger aims for $50bn IPO in 2 years
bne IntelliNews
The Telegram messaging app of Russian internet guru Pavel Durov aims to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two years with a valuation of $50bn, Vedomosti daily reports citing unnamed sources close
to the Dubai-headquartered company.
The Bell cited unnamed sources as saying that an IPO is most likely in 2023 on an Asian stock exchange, given that 40% of the messenger's users are in Asia.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, Telegram has closed the book for $1bn of exchange bonds yielding 7% annually. Reportedly, the latest bonds mature in 2026, with the minimum offering at $0.5mn. The bonds are exchangeable for equity in the case of a possible IPO at 10% discount.
Reportedly, the IPO would not exceed 25%, with the minimum free float of 10%. The valuation is based on $50 per active user, estimating that the messenger's active users will expand from 500mn people currently to 0.8bn-1bn people.
The Air Traffic Controllers European Union Coordination (ATCEUC) commented on the situation in both Albania and Poland, where three air traffic controllers were dismissed recently. It appealed to Albcontrol and Poland’s PANSA to urgently reinstate the fired employees.
“[I]n Albania, five ATCOs [air traffic controllers] have been fired because, due to the heavy stress they have been living with over the last year, exacerbated by unilateral cuts in salaries of up to 70%, their dismissal occurred after they declared temporary inability due to these stresses in accordance with the Albanian ATCOs' competence scheme,” said the ATCEUC press release.
“It would be wise not to underestimate the solidarity amongst European Air Traffic Controllers when witnessing such clear manifestation of abuse of power that our colleagues from Poland and Albania are facing!” the organisation added.
The Bell compiled the valuations of Telegram by a number of investment banks, which range from $50bn-$150bn. The valuation of at least $50bn is seen is justified, should the messenger present a clear business model and monetisation plan.
bne IntelliNews covered in detail how Telegram turned to debt financing to support its development after Durov halted his TON blockchain project in 2020, following a prolonged struggle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). TON was ordered to pay back $1.22bn worth of investment in its Gram tokens.
In 2020 the messenger made a surprise comeback on the Russian business scene, as the messenger app has been unblocked in Russia after a two-year stand-off with the security services and legislators. Notably, the state sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) bought part of $150mn of the bonds most recently issued by the messenger.
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