The creditors and banks of the struggling French IT giant Atos have sent a joint refinancing offer to the group, weighed down by a heavy debt and lacking new money to maintain its activity, indicated this Saturday, May 4 to AFP a source close to the case.
The former flagship of “French Tech”, which must be one of the technological pillars of the Paris Games this summer, announced on Monday that it needed 1.1 billion euros in liquidity for its activity in 2024-2025 and want to reduce its gross debt by 3.2 billion euros, which is around 5 billion. He had given his creditors until Friday to submit refinancing proposals.
“Compatible” with the arrival of a reference investor
“The banks and the bondholders (creditors, Editor’s note) have submitted a joint offer,” a source close to the Atos bond debt holders announced to AFP, adding that they “supported the group and provided the necessary liquidity to the latter”. According to the same source, this joint proposal “can be perfectly compatible” with the arrival of a reference investor, if it “is part of the creditors’ offer”. No other details about this offer have yet been revealed. Contacted by AFP, Atos did not immediately react.
The State came forward last weekend by sending a letter of intent to the group, to indicate its interest in its sovereign activities, an initiative that Atos said it welcomed with “satisfaction”. The activities targeted by the executive cover, among others, supercomputers used for nuclear deterrence and cybersecurity products. Bercy had also indicated that the government wanted to rally other French actors to its approach.
His call was heard by the French company Chapsvision, a specialist in data analysis, which entered the case on Friday saying it was interested in some of the activities targeted by the State, in particular the MCS branch which includes for example the system for securing communications networks on board Dassault’s Rafale “F4” aircraft. On Tuesday, Thales also suggested that the same activities could interest it.