Atos in discussions with Airbus to sell its strategic cybersecurity activities, its shares jump

2024-01-03 10:20:00

A major maneuver ahead for the French IT giant Atos, which has been in difficulty for several months. The group announced this Wednesday that it was in preliminary discussions with Airbus for the sale of its strategic branch (BDS) specializing in big data and cybersecurity, which the aeronautical group confirmed. After this announcement, Atos’ stock jumped this morning by 11.24% to 7.78 euros around 9:05 a.m.

As a reminder, these discussions between the two companies are still at a preliminary stage. Clearly, an agreement is not guaranteed at this stage. For the moment, Atos indicates in a market update that it will “ open a due diligence phase (detailed account examination procedure, editor’s note) with Airbus, whose indicative offer with an enterprise value of 1.5 to 1.8 billion euros covers the entire BDS perimeter ».

Get out of debt for Atos, strengthen cybersecurity for Airbus

This new sale is being considered by the IT group which must get out of debt and now plans to go “ well beyond » of the objective of “ 400 million euros » planned in July in order to meet its financing deadlines. For Airbus, this potential acquisition might allow it to strengthen its portfolio. in defense and security through leading capabilities in cyber, advanced computing and artificial intelligence ».

Atos: turnover weighed down by the branch that Daniel Kretinsky must recover

Furthermore, Atos indicates having received a second expression of interest for part of the BDS scope, without revealing the name of the company. Faced with difficult market conditions, the group “ does not exclude additional asset sales » if the plan to sell its Tech Foundations branch does not succeed.

In October last year, Atos saw its sales fall by 10.8% to 1.37 billion, with an organic decline of 7.2%. At 2.59 billion euros, turnover was at that time down 3% organically, excluding exchange rates and changes in scope. During the third quarter of 2023, the group recruited 3,630 people, while 5,800 employees left the group.

Restructuring

Since 2022, Atos has planned to split with, on one side, the Tech Foundations branch (outsourcing) and, on the other, the strategic branch Eviden (cloud, cybersecurity, supercomputers). Last summer, the group finally decided to sell Tech Foundations to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. Eviden would, for its part, be listed on the Stock Exchange, following an initially planned capital increase of 900 million euros, and revised downwards on Wednesday.

« Discussions are continuing on the price to pay, the structure of the operation and the transfer of a very large part of the liabilities attached to Tech Foundations. As with all negotiations, there is no certainty that they will result in an agreement. In addition, changing market conditions and reactions require reducing the initially planned size of Eviden’s capital increase. », nuance Atos in its press release.

Favorable to the split of Atos, Onepoint holds 11.4% of its capital

In mid-December, the Onepoint consulting firm increased its stake in the group’s capital Atos, of which he now holds 11.4%. The latter had already acquired 9.9% of the capital of the IT group in November, becoming its largest shareholder. However, its intention is not to take control of Atos.

Onepoint also indicated that it wanted “ have, as soon as possible, three representatives on the board of directors of Atos, this number being subject to change depending on the level of ownership at which Onepoint’s participation stabilizes “. The consulting firm also once once more demanded that the sale of Tech Foundations to Daniel Kretinsky “ intervenes under significantly improved conditions compared to those of the project announced on August 1, 2023 ».

The government will not nationalize Atos

Questioned on several occasions by parliamentarians concerned regarding the situation of the IT group, the government reiterated its position on the subject last November: it does not plan to nationalize Atos, or take a stake in it.

During a declaration last Wednesday, November 8 at the Assises de l’Industrie, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, on the other hand, recalled that he would ensure the protection of the branch of the group dedicated to supercomputers. And for good reason, it is essential to French nuclear deterrence. The only European manufacturer of supercomputers, Atos is the fourth world group in this field.

“I remind you that Atos is a company which of course has very sensitive activities, others which are less so. There, my responsibility is not to invest in the company, it is to protect the most sensitive technologies. They will be protected,” explained the minister.

The government does not intend to nationalize Atos or take a stake

This statement did not reassure certain deputies and senators worried regarding the future of Atos. Like the president of the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Cédric Perrin, who opposes the arrival of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky from the group.

Questioned by the senator during questions to the government on November 8, the Minister Delegate for Digital Jean-Noël Barrot retorted that a nationalisation d’Atos « would not resolve the operational and financial problems of the company”. He added: “ It is not state supervision that Atos needs, but rather industrial partners and investors”.

(With AFP)