Atos’ Big Data & Cybersecurity (BDS) business unit will not be sold to Airbus. After lengthy negotiations, the aircraft maker is again refraining from a takeover.
The French government was strongly in favour of the proposed deal. Because the French state is the largest Airbus shareholder, it would have had control over the strategically important BDS unit. Because of the large debts, an Airbus takeover turned out not to be attractive enough after all. No one will be able to glean much from the official statement, given its extremely brief nature.
The aborted deal would otherwise have resulted in revenues of 1.5-1.8 billion euros for Atos. It’s unclear what interested parties (if there are any) are ready to pay for now that the Airbus deal has been called off.
Free fall Atos
Investors in Airbus are relieved about the deal being called off, Reuters reports. As a result, Airbus’ share price rose 1.8 percent, while Atos’ value fell off a cliff. Immediately after the acquisition, Atos’ shares reached an all-time low after it dropped 21 percent. At the time of writing, the tech company is only worth 188.83 million euros, a stark contrast to its 2020 market value of 8.2 billion euros.
In June 2022, the company had reported that it wanted to split due to divergent interests that could no longer be reconciled. For example, Atos’ BDS unit was said to be a lot more lucrative than other legacy services.
Tip: Atos has new plans after failed deal with EPEI, which still wants a deal
Internally, disorder reigns: CEO Yves Bernaert stepped down after a disagreement with the Board of Directors in mid-January. As of now, former CFO Paul Saleh is at the helm.
Strategic alternatives
Atos says it is still “evaluating strategic alternatives that will take into consideration the sovereign imperatives of the French state.” Earlier, a deal to acquire the Tech Foundations unit had fallen through with EPEI, led by businessman Daniel Křetínský.
The BDS unit initially appeared not to be for sale in early 2022 when French multinational Thales came knocking, which at the time planned to spend 3 billion on the Atos unit. However, Atos stated then that this security division was not for sale.
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