2023-11-01 20:46:00
Week following week, the Atos saga continues. While the French IT group is in the midst of a crisis, stuck in its plan to split into two branches, Onepoint announced that it had taken a significant stake in its capital. After an initial approach last year, the French company specializing in digital transformation, founded and managed by David Layani, is taking on a file that might seem too big for it.
Onepoint now holds 9.9% of the capital of Atos, as well as 9.9% of the voting rights. Without indicating whether it already owned shares before, the company declared that it had crossed the threshold of 5% capital participation, in accordance with the obligations imposed by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF).
Atos management remains straight in its boots and continues to split the group
Persistent craving
In a press release, Onepoint indicated that this “Acquisition takes place as part of the company’s ongoing reorganization project, and its new governance, and reinforces the strategic dimension of Atos’ activities”. David Layani thus confirms his interest in taking over part of the group’s activities as part of the current split.
For its part, Atos indicated “have taken note of the announcement made this followingnoon [1er novembre 2023] by Onepoint, a French company recognized in the field of digital transformation, as a new key investor in Atos », in a press release. The group added: “We welcome the arrival of Onepoint and plan to enter into a constructive dialogue with it, as with all other shareholders of the Group, in the best interest of all our stakeholders. »
This is therefore not the first time that Onepoint has eyed Atos. Daring for a company with only 500 million euros in turnover. In September 2022, with the support of the Anglo-Saxon investment fund ICG, the company had already made a buyout offer of more than 4 billion euros for Evidian. That is to say the entity which was to bring together Atos’ most promising activities (cybersecurity, data, quantum, high-power computing, etc.) once the split was effective. The same one that attracted Airbus at the start of the year, the aircraft manufacturer finally throwing in the towel at the end of March.
After seeing his first offer rejected ” unanimously “ by the Atos board of directors, David Layani never gave up. Following the withdrawal of Airbus, the boss of Onepoint declared: “In this context, the Onepoint teams are fully mobilized and will study all possibilities of merger, within the framework of an acquisition of Evidian, to provide a lasting French solution and thus satisfy all stakeholders. »
“There is nothing shocking regarding having asked Kretinsky to invest in Eviden” (Bertrand Meunier, president of Atos)
A turbulent split, but still ongoing
Since then, Atos has embarked on a different division than that initially envisaged. It therefore wishes to separate itself from its historical outsourcing activities, dedicated to the maintenance of IT assets, and grouped together in the Tech Foundations branch. To do this, he entered into exclusive negotiations with the company EP Equity Investment (EPEI), a holding company of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. An acquisition which would be accompanied by EPEI’s participation in the increase planned for the remaining scope of Atos, renamed Eviden.
Announced in August, this project caused significant turmoil, with virulent criticism from both minority shareholders and politicians given Eviden’s strategic activities, leading to the resignation of Atos president Bertrand Meunier in mid-October. . Its finalization has been postponed until the start of the second quarter of 2024.
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