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The acquisition is negotiated at an enterprise value of €500m and could go up to €625m including earn-outs.
The French government has entered negotiations with the French IT firm Atos to potentially acquire the company’s advanced computing activities for €500m. The government’s acquisition plan comes after a number of failed attempts to acquire Atos by other private firms.
With a target of signing the share purchase agreement by 31 May 2025, Atos said in a statement today (25 November) that the €500m offer could potentially rise to €625m to include earn-outs. Upon signing the agreement, the government of France is expected to pay Atos an initial amount of €150m.
Atos’ advanced computing business regroups the company’s high-performance computing and quantum as well as the business computing and artificial intelligence divisions. This section of Atos’ business currently employs approximately 2,500 people and generated a revenue of about €570m in 2023.
As part of the offer, Atos said it would commit to launch a formal sale process for its cybersecurity products and mission critical systems, which generated revenue of about €340m in 2023.
The company said it has agreed with financial creditors to get an independent expert to assess the deal to ensure it reflects fair market value.
Atos, which is undergoing an extensive financial restructuring process to manage its debts, divested its energy division Worldgrid to the IT and engineering services firm Alten in a €270m deal expected to close this year. Earlier this month, the French government took a preferred share in Atos’ supercomputing unit.
Atos, which appointed its seventh CEO in three years this October, received approximately €1.7bn in financing from banks and shareholders. In return, the company converted €2.9bn of its debt into shares, effectively giving its creditors control of the company by January.
The struggling company’s share price tumbled significantly throughout 2024, falling from roughly €7.7 per share in December 2023 to a low of €0.18 at open today, down from €2 earlier this year.
The IT services company provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries – employing approximately 82,000 with an annual revenue of around €10bn.
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