(Boursier.com) — Although the Board of Directors Atos decided not to follow up on the unsolicited letter of intent from Onepoint on September 27, Onepoint made public, on September 29, the terms of the written proposal sent to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atos . It provides for a merger with the Digital and Big Data and Security activities, the split of which Atos announced to its shareholders in 2023, once grouped together in an entity called Evidian.
An offer of 4.2 billion euros
The leader in the technological transformation of companies and public players – which has 14 locations around the world, in Europe, North America, North Africa and Asia-Pacific – has made a purchase proposal for these activities on the basis of an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros as of December 31, 2022, paid in cash.
30% owned by Atos
“In order to share the value creation of the new group”, Onepoint says it has offered Atos to hold up to 30% of the capital of the combined group following the merger.
The financing of this acquisition would be ensured by raising equity capital of approximately 2 billion euros arranged by a leading European fund, in addition to existing debt instruments of up to 2.2 billion euros.
In order to carry out the transformation investments planned within the framework of the industrial project, the new group would have access to long-term financing of 500 million euros to supplement the self-financed portion. The investment plan would be around 1 MdE over 4 years.
A group of 100,000 employees
Through this merger, the new entity would have more than 60,000 employees with the ambition, within 5 years, to reach 100,000 employees. Beyond job creation, Onepoint is aiming for a turnover of 10 billion euros for the new entity, and a leading position in areas such as defence, health, energy, banking and service platforms.
Together, Onepoint and Evidian would have a complementary geographic presence driven by key markets, such as cloud, architecture, data and cybersecurity. The combined Evidian / Onepoint entity would cover all the fields of major transformations: from consulting to enterprise architecture, including support for change and technological implementation. It would guarantee all of its clients a single point of contact for all areas of expertise and capable of managing large-scale projects from start to finish.
Atos would gain 1 year on its market plan
According to Onepoint, this merger would foster significant commercial and industrial synergies, significant international acceleration and a new dynamic within the teams. It would be part of the strategy of the two groups, allowing the emergence of a new independent French champion and international leader, while ensuring a strengthening of French and European digital sovereignty, which is particularly critical in the economic and current geopolitics
According to Onepoint, with this merger, Atos could gain more than 1 year on its completion schedule, and focus on the return to growth of its historical activities, recognized for their excellence throughout the world.
At the end of its press release, Onepoint “invites the Atos Board of Directors to reconsider its decision, agreeing to engage with onepoint in the discussions that this project justifies in the interest of Atos and its stakeholders”.