The Italian Marco Patuano will take over from Tobias MartÃnez as CEO of Cellnex, a giant of telecommunications infrastructures. The appointment is a proposal of the board of directors that must be approved by the general meeting of shareholders, on June 1. It will be effective from June 4.
Patuano was president of Cellnex for two years, between 2018 and 2019. He will lead a new stage in which further consolidation of the company’s perimeter is expected, which has experienced strong growth based on acquisitions in recent years. “He has extensive experience in the telecommunications sector and extensive knowledge of the ecosystem of telecommunications towers in Europe,” says a note about the appointment.
In his career, 25 years stand out at the Italian TIM, where he was CEO between 2011 and 2016. He has also been a director at Autogrill, Atlantia or GSMA, among others.
His landing comes “after an exhaustive and careful selection process” MartÃnez submitted his resignation from the Cellnex management at the beginning of January. Since then there have been episodes of tension after Chris Hohn’s TCI activist fund emerged, a stake that made it the first shareholder, with 9%. TCI called for the dismissal of President Bertrand Kan, who also left his position as counselor. The departure of Peter Shore was also given. The reason would be that the board has not correctly piloted the search for a new CEO.
MartÃnez and Patuano will work hand in hand in the coming weeks “to guarantee a smooth transition,” he says. “Cellnex is a great company, with a bright future,” Patuano assured. One of his objectives will be to achieve investment grade for the firm.
In addition to Patuano’s appointment, the June 1 meeting will vote on expanding the council from 11 to 13 members and adding Óscar Fanjul and Dominiqui D’Hinnin.
The company has just presented results. In the first quarter, it increased revenues by 19%, to 985 million euros, while losses remained stable, at 91 million euros, due to higher depreciation and acquisition costs.
