LEAD 2-Atos says its cybersecurity division is not for sale – 02/04/2022 at 10:04


(Corrects in §13 a dispatch from Thursday, to read that Elie Girard has resigned (and not ousted as indicated in the previous version))

by Mathieu Rosemain and Julien Ponthus

PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Atos ATOS.PA said on Thursday its BDS cybersecurity division was “not for sale” after sources told Reuters that Thales TCFP.PA was considering a possible bid.

“We are focused on our turnaround plan and we are convinced of the group’s considerable turnaround potential,” said an Atos spokesperson.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Thales was working on a plan to buy Atos’ cybersecurity business, which could cost around 2.7 billion euros.

In reaction to this information, Thales said on Wednesday that it was potentially interested in any cybersecurity asset that would be available for sale and was not engaged in discussions with Atos. nL8N2UD4UI

On the Paris Bourse, the Atos share fell 7.46% on Thursday after jumping 10% the day before on information from Reuters.

According to industry sources and analysts, the French state holds the key to any eventual sale of Atos’ BDS division.

Among other activities, the French group secures communications for the army and intelligence services and claims to be the European leader in services and digital security and one of the main global providers of civil and military digital services.

“The real question is that of the future of Atos and it is really a political question,” notes Mikael Jacoby, trading director for continental Europe at Oddo Securities. “I think this question will remain in the minds of investors even if in the short term, there is nothing to expect,” he adds.

One of Atos’ oldest clients is the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), which the company helped simulate nuclear missile tests. The group also inherited confidential technologies through the 2014 takeover of the Bull group, say industry sources.

Atos has won a contract to participate in the construction of a supercomputer in India, a country with which France has strengthened its partnership on defense and security.

“It’s highly strategic and a matter of sovereignty,” said a source close to Atos about the Indian contract. “Just like nuclear submarines.”

“We are following very closely all French companies,” said a spokesperson for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in response to a question about Atos’ situation.

Atos shares have lost half their value over the past year after a series of setbacks that led to the departure of its managing director Elie Girard, successor at the head of the company to Thierry Breton, the current European commissioner in charge of the internal market and digital in particular.

(Report Mathieu Rosemain in Paris and Julien Ponthus in London, with Tim Hepher, French version Bertrand Boucey, Blandine Hénault and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Matthieu Protard and Jean-Michel Bélot)



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