(Finance) – The Board of Directors of Cellnex TelecomEurope’s largest operator of wireless telecommunications infrastructure, has approved the launch of a share buyback program for up to 800 million eurosfollowing the completion of the sale of Cellnex’s business in Ireland, expected to take place in the first quarter of this year.
The objective of the program is take advantage of current price levels of the shares (-20% in the last year) and reduce the share capital by canceling these shares.
Additionally, the board approved a increase in the amount of the equity swap contract announced in November 2023 from 150 million euros up to a maximum of 550 million euros. At current market prices, this equates to approximately 19.2 million shares, or 2.7% of total share capital. It also approved an extension of the maturity of the aforementioned equity swap agreement from May 2025 to June 2026. This extension aims to take advantage of the current market price of the company’s shares and to cover the exposure to the share repurchase program, as well as various dilutive instruments that are part of its capital structure (e.g. convertible bonds, LTIPs, etc.).
“We continue to keep our promises – commented the CEO Marco Patuano – With the approval of this share repurchase program, we are accelerating our plans to compensate our shareholders, better than we committed to doing at our Capital Markets Day held in March 2024. This transaction adds to the remuneration already announced for the period 2026-2030″.