(Reuters) -French IT firm Atos on Monday entered negotiations with the government for the potential acquisition of its advanced computing activities for an enterprise value of 500 million euros ($524 million).
The target is to have a share purchase agreement signed by May 31, 2025, it said in a press release.
Atos also announced a commitment to launch a formal sale process for BDS’s Mission-Critical Systems and Cybersecurity Products businesses.
Advanced Computing, Critical Systems and Cyber Products are part of Atos’ cybersecurity unit BDS. They employ about 4,000 people and generate about 900 million euros of annual sales, a French Finance Ministry official told Reuters in April.
“The opening of exclusive discussions between the French State and Atos is a crucial first step, not only for the Group’s turnaround and restructuring, but also to secure the strategic activity of supercomputers. It is the role of the French State to guarantee, as a shareholder when it is justified, the development of the industrial activities that are most strategic for our sovereignty,” French Finance minister Antoine Armand said on Monday in a press release.
Taking in account the impact of the sale of its advanced computing unit, Atos now expects its 2027 financial leverage to be between 1.8x and 2.1x, it said.
Tech company Atos, which is undergoing a restructuring to tackle its large debt burden, secures communications for the French military as it owns the supercomputers that simulate nuclear bomb tests.
($1 = 0.9544 euros)
(Reporting by Alban Kacher; Editing by Tom Hogue and Kim Coghill)
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