CELLNEX TELECOM / INWIT : SBAC takeover talks reported to hit a “snag”; potential small negative read-across for EU Towers today

Research evidence excerpt

CELLNEX TELECOM / INWIT : SBAC takeover talks reported to hit a “snag”; potential small negative read-across for EU Towers today

EQUITIES

TELECOM OPERATORS

CELLNEX TELECOM UNDERPERFORMPRICE* EUR28.4  TARGET PRICE EUR27 (DOWNSIDE 5%)

INWIT NEUTRALPRICE* EUR7.2  TARGET PRICE EUR7.3 (UPSIDE 2%)

FLASH NOTE

SBAC takeover talks reported to hit a “snag”; potential small negative

read-across for EU Towers today

13 MAY 2026 Securities Research Report Production time: 07:53* (London time)

Research Analyst & Publishing Entities

Abhilash Mohapatra BNP Paribas London Branch (+44) 203 430 8675 abhilash.mohapatra@uk.bnpparibas.com

What happened?

*US tower names weakened into US market close last night, mainly SBA Communications and to a lesser extent

American Tower and Crown Castle (all three names not covered by BNPP). This followed a news report (picked up by

Bloomberg) that SBAC’s take-private talks with KKR had “hit a “snag”, as KKR went “pencils down” on the deal due to

concerns about an elevated valuation and the equity commitment required”.

*As a reminder, the US Tower names had rallied around Easter (see our note here) following a report of takeover

interest around SBAC. This had supported European Tower names at the time to an extent as well. In following days,

there was further M&A support for Cellnex shares after media report around a potential return of talks for the sale of

Cellnex Switzerland.

*Subsequently, at Cellnex’s 1Q26 results, management seemed to downplay the prospects of European towers M&A,

while reiterating that the group would only consider asset sales if the valuation was attractive (see here).

BNPP View:

*We believe this US towers M&A report from last night could have a small negative read-across for the European tower

names (Cellnex/Inwit) today.