American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. are considering a takeover bid for Barcelona-based tower company Cellnex Telecom, including taking it off the stock market, Spanish news outlet Okdiario reported last Friday. Cellnex’ stock rose based on the news, while American Tower’s fell.
The report of a possible deal came on the heels of a shake up in management at Cellnex. The tower company appointed Alfonso Álvarez as chief executive of its subsidiary in the United Kingdom, replacing David Crawford, according to Okdiario. Last week, Inside Towers reported that Tobias Martinez resigned as CEO and Director of Cellnex, effective June 1, 2023.
At the end of 3Q22, American Tower reported 30,377 towers in Europe, while Cellnex reported 103,126. The acquisition would vault American Tower into the dominant position on the continent with 133,500 towers. Early in 2021, American Tower became a player in Europe when it entered into a definitive agreement with Telefónica, S.A., under which it agreed to acquire Telxius Towers, comprising approximately 31,000 existing communications sites in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina, according to Okdiario.
Last year, Cellnex bought CK Hutchison’s 24,600 towers across six countries in Europe for roughly $10.2 billion, Inside Towers reported. With the November 11 close of that deal, Cellnex’ owned and planned build-to-suit towers tallied 125,000 telecom sites in 12 European countries. American Tower has a market cap of more than $103 billion, roughly four times Cellnex.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
Reader Interactions