Part of Atos will pass into the hands of the State. A way to respond to the financial difficulties experienced by the digital giant.
The French group has been accumulating financial problems for several years now, which is why management planned to sell part of the activities to billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. A project which ultimately failed, increasing the need to find another source of income. And this will ultimately come from the State, according to an announcement just made by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
Bruno Le Maire announces the takeover
It was an option that was on the table. And which has just been validated. Bruno Le Maire has just announced the sending by his services of a “ letter of intent to acquire all sovereign activities of Atos “. An operation which should make it possible to prevent these same activities from “ pass into the hands of foreign actors », again according to the Minister of the Economy.
The State had already issued a loan of 50 million euros dedicated to Atos, which allowed it to obtain a “ a preferred action » on Bull. As a reminder, this entity integrated a large part of sovereign activities, such as that of supercomputers, used in the context of nuclear deterrence.
It’s not just supercomputers that are affected
According to The world, the activities concerned by this acquisition are, in addition to supercomputers, quantum computing activities, some linked to cybersecurity, and servers used for artificial intelligence. The whole represents an annual turnover of 900 million euros (out of the 11 billion generated by Atos) and some 4,000 employees.
Currently, the letter of intent sent by the minister is not binding. The State Participation Agency, which will be in charge, hopes to be able to resume these activities with private partners working in the defense and aeronautics sectors. ” Discussions ” have been carried out in this direction for several weeks already.
Source : The world
0