Cellnex leads the rises of the Ibex 35 (+4%) after launching a share buyback for up to 800 million

MADRID Jan 15 () –

Cellnex started the trading day this Wednesday leading the rises of the Ibex 35, with a rise of 4% that was still close to 9:30 a.m., after the company announced yesterday after the market closed the launch of a buyback program own shares of up to 800 million.

Thus, the shares of the Catalan firm rose by 4.13%, until they were exchanged at a unit price of 30.03 euros, although it registered an increase of 3.95% in the first stages of this session, up to 29.98 euros per title.

In this context, the board of directors of Cellnex approved this Tuesday the launch of a program to buy back the company’s own shares of up to a maximum of 800 million euros after the closing of the sale of its business in Ireland, scheduled for first quarter of the year.

“The objective of the program is to take advantage of the current level of the share price and reduce the company’s share capital through the redemption of said shares, subject to the approval of the general meeting of shareholders,” the firm explained.

The maximum number of shares that could be acquired will depend on the average price at which they are purchased, which at the current market price would represent about 28 million shares.

The buyback program is scheduled to end no later than December 2025, or when shares have been purchased for the maximum monetary amount indicated before that date, and its management has been entrusted to Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe HE.

FINANCIAL EXCHANGE

The council has also approved increasing the amount of the equity swap contract announced in November 2023 from 150 million to a maximum of 550 million; At current market prices this is equivalent to approximately 19.2 million shares, representing 2.7% of the share capital.

It has also given the green light to extend the expiration of said financial swap contract from May 2025 to June 2026.

This increase aims to take advantage of the current market price of the company’s shares and cover its exposure to the aforementioned buyback program, as well as to the various dilutive instruments that are part of its capital structure, such as convertible bonds or LTIP.

“We continue to fulfill our promises. With the approval of this share repurchase program we accelerate our plans to remunerate our shareholders, improving what we committed to at our Capital Markets Day (CMD) held in March 2024,” the director stressed. Cellnex CEO, Marco Patuano.