The Atos logo on a company building in Nantes
by Mathieu Rosemain
The French state has sent a letter of intent to the Atos group to acquire activities it considers strategic, Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday, as the IT consulting group strives to restructure its debt.
A source close to Bruno Le Maire’s office said on Sunday that the State was targeting three Atos activities – advanced computing, critical systems and cyber products – perceived as having strategic importance.
These assets, which are part of Atos’ BDS (Big Data & Security) division, employ around 4,000 people and generate around 900 million euros in annual turnover, said the source, who spoke before the intervention of Bruno Le Maire.
“I submitted a letter of intent this weekend with a view to acquiring all the sovereign activities of Atos,” said Bruno Le Maire on the LCI channel, specifying that it is the agency for the holdings of Atos. State which will carry out this operation.
The French Minister of Economy and Finance added that the State wanted other industrial groups to join its offer.
“We will see which other shareholders could participate. I mean only French shareholders who work in strategic areas, defense for example or aeronautics,” he noted.
“There are other models like that of Naval Group, of TechicAtome where there is the State plus a round table with other French sovereign actors”, he continued, emphasizing that “the objective This means that Atos’ strategic activities remain under the exclusive control of France.
Rumors have circulated in the French press that defense groups like Thales and Dassault Aviation could participate in a plan to safeguard Atos assets.
Thales and Atos declined to comment, while Dassault Aviation was not immediately available for comment.
The objective is to put together an offer by June, said the source, refusing to give more details on the valuation of these strategic activities.
The French State’s offer does not depend on the establishment of a consortium but it nevertheless wishes to form one, the source said. We currently do not know the size of the share targeted by the State in the purchase of Atos activities.
GREAT DIFFICULTIES
Atos is an IT consulting group that secures communications for the French army and secret services. It also manufactures servers for supercomputers capable of processing large quantities of data for research or to develop the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
The group also manages data and cybersecurity for the Paris Olympic Games which will take place from July 26 to August 11.
The group is in major stock market difficulties, the stock having lost around 70% of its value since the start of the year, but also financial difficulties.
Atos warned on Thursday that it needed additional liquidity, after having presented at the beginning of April a refinancing plan which was then based on the search for 1.2 billion euros in new money and the conversion of half of the debt into shares.
At the end of March, Atos’ debt reached 3.9 billion euros compared to 2.3 billion at the end of December while cash flow fell by 1.4 billion euros in three months.
(Written by Mathieu Rosemain, French version Claude Chendjou)