French tech giant Atos's top shareholder drops rescue offer

French tech giant Atos's top shareholder drops rescue offer
By Yassine KHIRI
Paris (AFP) June 26, 2024

A consortium led by the top shareholder of troubled French tech giant Atos, an IT partner for the Paris Olympics and French military, has withdrawn a rescue offer for the group, the companies said on Wednesday.

Atos, which runs supercomputers for France's nuclear deterrent and is also an IT provider for the Euro 2024 football tournament, is buried under almost five billion euros ($5 billion) of debt.

The company's board earlier this month had chosen a financial restructuring proposal made by the consortium led by digital consultancy Onepoint over one offered by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Onepoint, headed by French businessman David Layani, said in a statement that "the conditions were not met to conclude an agreement paving the way for a lasting solution for financial restructuring and implementation" of its plan.

But in its statement on Wednesday, Atos said Kretinsky's EPEI was interested in re-starting negotiations.

It published a letter dated June 25 from EPEI addressed to Atos chairman Jean-Pierre Mustier that said EPEI wanted to negotiate "on an exclusive basis" and announce an agreement in principle as soon as possible.

- 'Mission-critical systems' -

Kretinsky made his fortune in the energy industry in Central Europe with his multibillion dollar EPH group.

In recent years he has also become a major player in France's media scene and amassed a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at more than $9 billion.

Kretinsky's consortium had been in talks for months to buy part of Atos, twice revising its offer, before negotiations broke down in February.

The company's statement acknowledged Kretinsky's offer to restart to talks without giving an opinion.

Atos said it was working on a new restructuring plan to take into account Onepoint's withdrawal and added that its objective of reaching a "definitive financial restructuring agreement" by July remained unchanged.

Atos, which has been in financial turmoil for three years, has insisted that its woes will not disrupt its operations during the Olympics, which begin on July 26.

The firm is set to provide real-time results, manage more than 300,000 accreditations and oversee cybersecurity for the Games.

Atos is also a key government contractor and the French state has offered 700 million euros for its strategically important activities, including advanced computing, "mission-critical systems" and cybersecurity products.

Without giving further details, the firm said in its statement that talks with the French state had been finalised and an agreement would be signed on Wednesday.

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