According to DCD, Vantage Towers will appoint Martin Bouchard as its new CEO effective May 1, 2026. Bouchard currently serves as CEO of American Tower Germany, a position he’s held since April 2023. He’ll replace interim CEO Nicolas Mahler, who took over in September after former CEO Christian Hillabrandt left for US tower firm Crown Castle. Mahler will return to his CFO role in May. Bouchard brings more than 25 years of telecom experience, including significant time at Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiary Deutsche Funkturm. Vantage Towers operates 88,000 tower sites across 10 European countries including towers, masts, and small cells.
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Leadership shuffle
This feels like a pretty significant poaching move. Bouchard coming from American Tower Germany means Vantage Towers is bringing in someone who’s been competing against them. And he’s not starting until 2026? That’s a long runway – basically two years from now. Makes you wonder about the transition planning and whether there are contractual obligations keeping him at his current role.
Industry background
Bouchard’s Deutsche Telekom background is interesting. He spent most of his career there, including four years at Deutsche Funkturm, which is DT’s tower company. So he’s essentially coming full circle – from running a telco’s tower unit to running a competing tower company to now leading a major independent tower player. That DT experience could be valuable since Vantage Towers still has close ties to Vodafone, even after the ownership changes.
Ownership complexity
Here’s the thing about Vantage Towers – the ownership structure has gotten pretty complicated since the Vodafone spin-off in 2020. Now Oak Holdings (a joint venture between KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners) owns 89% of the company, while Vodafone holds 50% of Oak Holdings. So basically, private equity firms have significant control now. That probably influenced this CEO selection – private equity tends to favor executives with proven operational experience who can drive value.
Market implications
This move could signal some interesting shifts in the European tower market. American Tower losing their Germany CEO to a competitor suggests Vantage Towers is serious about challenging the big players. With 88,000 sites across Europe, they’re already a major force. Bringing in someone with Bouchard’s background – spanning both telco and tower company perspectives – might help them navigate the increasingly complex landscape of 5G deployment and infrastructure sharing across borders.
