INFO LE FIGARO – The aircraft manufacturer has given up on taking over Atos’ cybersecurity and big data activities. The group is more than ever in a critical situation.
New twist in the Atos soap opera. Having entered into exclusive negotiations a few weeks ago with Atos around the sale of the French group's cybersecurity and big data activities, grouped under the BDS entity, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus is throwing in the towel.
By Lucas Mediavilla
Published 1 hour ago, update 43 minutes ago
The information, first revealed by Le Figaro, was made public just before the opening of the Stock Exchange. In a laconic press release, Atos confirms having “been informed that discussions with Airbus concerning the sale of its BDS (Big Data & Security) activity will not continue” . “Atos analyzes the resulting situation and actively evaluates strategic alternatives which will take into account the sovereignty imperatives of the French State ,” the group also explains.
Obviously on the stock market side, this news was received as a new explosion for the company chaired by Jean Pierre Mustier. The price showed a decline of more than 20% in the first trading on the stock markets. Indebted to the tune of 4.65 billion euros, including 3.65 billion to be repaid by 2025, Atos was counting on this deal to loosen the financial knot that is suffocating it.
Airbus throws in the towel
At the beginning of January, Airbus and Atos announced the entry into a due diligence phase around BDS activities . The aircraft manufacturer had expressed its interest in a letter mentioning an enterprise value of between 1.5 and 1.8 billion euros. Airbus was already maneuvering in February 2023 to take back 30% of the capital of Eviden, the entity born from the split in two of Atos in 2022. If it had reversed course after the anger of one of its shareholders – the British TCI – and the maneuvers of part of the Paris market judging that the presence of the German State in its capital posed a problem, the aircraft manufacturer returned to the file in December .
His approach benefited from the implicit support of Bercy, which was concerned about seeing strategic activities included in BDS – notably supercomputers used for digital simulations of nuclear tests – go under foreign flag. But since January 3 – date of the start of the due diligence phase – several observers noticed that negotiations were dragging with the aircraft manufacturer. “It’s a symptom of Airbus’s diminishing appetite ,” even noted an influential local banker in our columns a few days ago.
This same banker judged that the rapid deterioration of Atos' results in these divisions supposed to be the most dynamic, combined with a doubt on the part of Airbus about the performance of the "supercomputers" activities lodged in BDS, were all points of reluctance for the aircraft manufacturer. If Atos' staff was still confident in recent days about the completion of this deal, Airbus finally threw in the towel.
Also read Jean-Pierre Mustier (Atos) at Le Figaro: “I too know how to be tough in business”
The explosion was enormous in Bezons, near the company's headquarters. With this withdrawal from Airbus, which follows that of Daniel Kretinsky for the purchase of outsourcing activities (TechFoundations) recorded a few days ago, Atos sees two serious opportunities disappear to act on its debt reduction. The former French IT flagship will have to quickly find an alternative, and new avenues for disposals to avoid the takeover of the company by creditors. The ad hoc mandate entrusted to the judicial administrator Hélène Bourbouloux and the negotiations with the pool of 22 banks present on the file are obviously taking a new turn. “I don’t see how they will be able to escape legal protection ,” confides a good expert on this type of case.
As a corollary of Airbus' decision, the group's annual results, whose publication was scheduled for this Wednesday after having been postponed to the end of February, are once again postponed to a new date.