French government comes to the aid of Atos

On April 9, 2024, Atos disclosed an outline of its refinancing plan, which includes 450 million euros negotiated with its creditors and the French government. The amount should allow the company to deal with running costs until its debt restructuring is carried out.

“The State fully contributed to setting up this financing through the interministerial committee for industrial restructuring (CIRI). In addition, it will assume a share of the financing […], through a 50-million-euro loan,” stated the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, in a separate press release.

The loan comes with an issuing of “preferred stock” that will grant the State a reinforced right of inspection over Atos’ strategic assets. In particular, the State will be able to “take over sensitive sovereign areas in the event of a third party acquiring more than 10% or increasing its stake and voting rights by a multiple of 10%,” declares the IT company’s press release

Moreover, Atos has given itself until April 26, 2024, to study new financing proposals. The latter may come from outside parties – shareholders and creditors – or third party investors. “Given the group’s needs, a general refinancing deal will lead to a significant dilution of existing shareholders,” points out the IT giant.

The French company Onepoint, currently the largest shareholder of Atos (11.4% of shares), is preparing a takeover plan for the entire company that does not entail dismantling it. On April 7, 2024, it received the support of the French investment firm, Butler Industries, strengthening the legitimacy of the company’s coming bid.