Willkie Advises on SMAG Mobile Antenna Masts’ Initial Public Offering
Munich/Frankfurt am Main — Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (“Willkie”) advised SMAG Mobile Antenna Masts AG (the “Company”) and the selling shareholder SMAG Group GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Munich-based financial investor AEQUITA SE & Co. KGaA (the “selling shareholder”), in connection with the Company’s initial public offering with a total offering size of approximately 129.6 million euros, assuming full exercise of the greenshoe option.
The company, headquartered in Salzgitter, Germany, has a long tradition in engineering dating back to 1974 and is a leading European manufacturer of mission-critical mobile antenna mast systems for defense applications, providing connectivity solutions for modern and next-generation battlefields. The company generates virtually all of its net revenue from military applications and has more than 2,000 mission-critical mast systems in service in over 20 countries.
Cantor Fitzgerald served as the sole global coordinator and sole bookrunner.
Following the successful initial public offering of Gabler Group AG in March 2026, the company’s IPO is already the second listing in the defense sector this year in which Willkie served as legal counsel. Together, these transactions underscore the significant momentum building across the European defense sector—driven by rising NATO spending commitments and growing interest from capital markets in companies operating in mission-critical defense segments.
The offering comprised 650,000 new shares from a capital increase and 1,800,000 existing shares from the selling shareholder’s portfolio, with an additional 367,500 shares available under a greenshoe option. The selling shareholder remains the company’s majority shareholder even after the initial public offering. The company’s shares were admitted to trading in the Scale segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Willkie advised the company and the selling shareholder on all capital markets and corporate law aspects of the transaction.
Transaction Advisors at WILLKIE
The core team was led by partners Simon Weiß and Joseph Marx and included associates Martin E. Kalbhenn and Marius Reif (all Capital Markets; Frankfurt/Munich). The team also included partners Jacob Ahme (Corporate Law; Hamburg), Anne Kleffmann (Employment Law; Munich), and Dr. Bettina Bokeloh (Tax Law; Frankfurt); counsel Martin Waskowski (Employment Law; Frankfurt) and Catherine A. Harrington (Tax Law; New York), as well as associates Dr. Patrick Kemper and Nohman Raufi (both Corporate Law; Frankfurt), Sascha Winkler (Labor Law; Frankfurt), and Dr. Maximilian Schlutz (Global Trade/Defense; Munich).