This project, which had been announced at a total of 900 million euros last summer, had already been revised downwards at the beginning of January. Furthermore, “*discussions with EPEI*”, the investment company of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, *“are ongoing”* but still *“without certainty that they will lead to an agreement”*. These discussions revolve around the sale of Tech Foundations, the entity that brings together Atos’s historical outsourcing activities.
This sale project had been announced last summer, but had sparked opposition from LR politicians (keen to keep this strategic company *“under French control”*), business circles, and shareholders. A fact-finding mission was created by the Senate. In parallel, negotiations with Airbus for the acquisition of the company’s Big Data & Security activities, announced at the beginning of January, are ongoing, with an enterprise value between 1.5 and 1.8 billion euros.
Atos had denied this. “*The ad hoc representative is an independent third party whose mission would notably be to assist the company in its dealings*” with banks, *“in order to converge towards an appropriate financial solution as soon as possible”*, Atos specifies. “*The ad hoc mandate is an amicable procedure allowing negotiations to be conducted in a confidential framework*,” the group recalls.
According to the company, “*the ad hoc mandate would only involve financial debt*” and would be *“without impact on employees, clients, and suppliers”*. At the opening of the Paris Stock Exchange, the share price of the IT group Atos dropped by nearly 17%, to 3.27 euros, in early trading at the Paris Stock Exchange, following strategic announcements on Monday morning. Around 10:00, the company’s shares were down 24.57% at 2.97 euros, reaching their all-time lows.
Since the beginning of the year, the stock has lost nearly 58%.