Activist hedge fund TCI gains Cellnex board seat

By Joan Faus

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain's Cellnex on Wednesday said it gave a board seat to activist hedge fund TCI, the mobile phone tower operator's largest shareholder, which has pressured the company's top management leading to the resignation of two independent members this month.

Internal turmoil has marred Europe's largest mobile phone tower operator after TCI in March sought to remove its chair and two board members, arguing the board had mishandled the search for a new CEO, resulting in insufficient progress.

TCI requested in March that its representative Jonathan Amouyal join the board, which Cellnex's board approved on Wednesday, a day before announcing its first-quarter results.

The board also approved naming Maria Teresa Ballester as independent member, Cellnex said in a statement.

Both designations will have to be ratified at an upcoming annual general meeting.

A week after he had been replaced as non-executive chair, Bertrand Boudewijn Kan resigned as board member on April 4, alongside fellow member Leonard Peter Shore, citing "irreconcilable differences with the board in relation to the management, governance and succession process of the company".

TCI had requested their departure but has not fulfilled its other goal of removing Alexandra Reich, who represents Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited, and is part of the nominations committee, according to records.

TCI became in March Cellnex's largest shareholder with a 9% stake, including 5.9% in derivatives, surpassing Italian group Edizione.

The Barcelona-based group announced in January that its chief executive Tobias Martinez would step down in June after it embarked on a strategy shift away from intense acquisitions activity to focus on reducing its debt.

(Reporting by Joan Faus, editing by Aislinn Laing and Josie Kao)