PARIS (Reuters) – Atos said on Thursday that its board of directors had decided to reject an offer to buy its digital and cybersecurity business Evidian for an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros.
“Atos confirms having received on Tuesday an unsolicited letter of intent from Onepoint, associated with the Anglo-Saxon investment fund ICG, relating to a potential acquisition of the ‘Evidian’ perimeter for an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros,” said the IT and cybersecurity group in a press release.
“After careful consideration of this preliminary and non-binding expression of interest, (…) the Board of Directors (…) has unanimously noted that it is not in the interest of the society and its stakeholders,” continues Atos.
During a conference call with the press, the founder and chairman of the Onepoint company, David Layani, called on Atos to reconsider its position and added that he was ready to work hand in hand with Atos to reach an agreement.
According to him, an agreement, which would allow Atos to hold up to 30% of the new entity, would create 20,000 new jobs in Europe, including 10,000 in France.
“We ask the board of directors to take the time to reconsider its position,” said the boss of Onepoint.
Atos announced at the end of July that it had successfully secured “the financing of its transformation plan and expects an acceleration in the growth of its turnover in the second half of the year.
(Report Sudip Kar-Gupta and Matthieu Protard, edited by Marc Angrand and Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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