Atos collapses in Paris, end of negotiations with Airbus to divest Bds
The share price has fallen more than 76% since the beginning of the year. The company announced that it had been informed that discussions on the sale of the division 'will not go ahead'.
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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Atos sank on the Paris Stock Exchange after announcing the end of negotiations with Airbus for the sale of its Big Data and Cybersecurity (Bds) business. The stock of the digital services group, which has been in trouble for some time, plunged more than 20 points, and has fallen more than 76% since the beginning of the year. In a statement Atos announced that it had 'been informed by Airbus that negotiations for the sale of BDS (Big Data & Security) will not go ahead'.
The company is 'analysing the resulting situation and is actively evaluating strategic alternatives that will take into account the sovereign imperatives of the French state'. Atos also decided to postpone the announcement of the results for the 2023 financial year "to a near future in order to assess strategic options". The accounts were due to be released on Wednesday. Airbus in turn confirmed that it had terminated negotiations with Atos.
The two companies had announced earlier this year that they had opened negotiations for the sale of the BDS business, for which Airbus proposed an enterprise value of between €1.5 billion and €1.8 billion. The deal was to form part of a process to reduce the debt of Atos, which has been in serious financial difficulty for some time. The group, which is currently in negotiations with its banks, has decided to split its historical IT consultancy business from its cybersecurity business. Atos had intended to sell the Tech Foundations business unit, which combines the IT consulting activities, to the Epei group of Czech entrepreneur Daniel Kretinsky, but this transaction also failed.
