Cellnex elects Marco Patuano to succeed Martínez as CEO from June 4

The company will expand its board to 13 members with the addition of former Repsol CEO Óscar Fanjul and Dominique D'Hinnin

Cellnex's board of directors will propose to the general shareholders' meeting the appointment of Marco Patuano as the company's new CEO, replacing Tobias Martínez, who will leave office on June 3.

In this way, the appointment of Patuano as the new CEO will be effective on June 4, the company reported this Friday.

The succession of Martínez in Cellnex comes after several changes in the members of the Cellnex board have taken place in response to the intention of the company's largest shareholder, The Children's Investment Fund (TCI), of British investor Chris Hohn, to have a seat in this body so that the group could focus on the search for its new CEO.

Hohn, who through TCI owns 9.3% of Cellnex, demanded the departure of directors Peter Shore and Alexandra Reich and president Bertrand Kan. The former resigned and Kan ended up stepping down as Chairman of the Board of Directors, being replaced by Anne Bouverot, an independent director of Cellnex since May 2018.

Subsequently, and to continue paving the way for the appointment of a new CEO, Cellnex's board of directors co-opted María Teresa Ballester as an independent director and Jonathan Amouyal as a proprietary director representing TCI Luxembourg and CIFF Capital UK.

The man who will be the new CEO of Cellnex from June 4 has a degree in Finance from the Bocconi University of Milan (Italy) and was president of Cellnex for two years (2018-2019). He has more than 25 years of experience at the Italian Telecom Italia, where he was group CEO, commercial director and financial director.

His professional career has developed in several markets, both in Europe and Latin America, and he has been part of the Boards of Autogrill, Atlantia, GSM Association (GSMA), Utenti Pubblicita Associati and WAC Ltd, among others.

Cellnex's president, Anne Bouverot, has welcomed Patuano as the new CEO "after an exhaustive and careful selection process". "Marco is a respected and experienced business leader with a deep understanding of the dynamics of the telecommunications sector and the European tower market. From the Council he will have our support in his responsibility to lead the new chapter of Cellnex", he added.

Patuano and Tobias Martínez will work together in the coming weeks "to guarantee a smooth transition after the shareholders' meeting" and thus facilitate the achievement of the strategic priorities announced by the company in November, focused on promoting organic growth, value creation and balance reinforcement.

Precisely, the new CEO has committed to the strategy announced in November, "which clearly aims at creating value, focusing on organic growth and achieving investment grade", he highlighted.

THE COUNCIL WILL BE EXTENDED TO 13 MEMBERS: FANJUL AND D'HINNIN ENTER

The Cellnex general shareholders' meeting corresponding to the 2022 financial year has been called for June 1, on second call, at the headquarters of the Madrid College of Architects.

As part of the agenda, the board also proposes to increase its number of members from 11 to 13 and, for this, the appointment as new independent directors of Óscar Fanjul, vice president of Ferrovial, and Dominique d'Hinnin, president will be voted from Eutelsat.

Fanjul, who is also currently an adviser to Marsh

For his part, Dominique D'Hinnin has been Chairman of the Board of Eutelsat since November 2017 and a member of its Board since November 4, 2016 and has spent a large part of his career in the Lagardère Group. He has also been a member of the board of directors of Airbus and Canal.

Currently, Dominique D'Hinnin is also a member of the board of directors of the French company Edenred, of the French company Vantiva and of the Belgian distributor Louis Delhaize SA.

With the incorporation of these two new directors, Cellnex's board of directors will have 9 independent members out of a total of 13, which would mean a weight of 69%, thus exceeding the threshold established in the Good Governance recommendations for listed companies .

The rest of the board will be made up of three proprietary directors -one representing TCI, another representing Edizione and another representing GIC, as reference shareholders- and an executive director.

It is also expected that the meeting on June 1 will ratify the new directors appointed since the last general meeting of shareholders held in April 2022 (Ana García Fau, Jonathan Amouyal and María Teresa Ballester), and renew Marieta del Rivero, director independent and chair of the Appointments, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee, as well as Christian Coco, proprietary director representing Edizione.