The French government has taken a preferred share in Atos’ supercomputing unit. The struggling French IT services provider has also divested its energy division.

An announcement from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry this week said the state had decided to acquire a preferred share in Bull SA, a French subsidiary of Atos operating the “strategic activities” of designing and manufacturing supercomputers.

Antoine Armand, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, said: "The state will thus benefit from reinforced rights, enshrined in the statutes and which may go as far as vetoing in certain cases, on the information and decisions that the company could take. The convention and the preferential action guarantee a high level of security essential to the sovereignty of the Nation and demonstrate the State's capacity to deploy the necessary protections in companies that operate strategic activities.”

Atos, which provides on-premises and cloud infrastructure, as well as a host of other IT services, has been struggling to bring its debts under control for years. The company recently appointed its seventh CEO in three years.

The French government has been looking to intervene and acquire parts of the company it deems critical to national security.

As noted by Reuters and the Register, the French finance commission recently adopted an amendment that could lead to a nationalization of Atos. The change calls for €70 million to be allocated to exploring a deal to acquire the company, which handles a number of sensitive contracts for the French state.

The amendment was included in the Finance Bill (PLF) for 2025 and will need to be confirmed by a vote and a parliamentary review.

Atos divests Worldgrid

In other news this week, Atos has signed a deal to sell its Worldgrid unit to IT and engineering services firm Alten for €270 million. The deal is expected to close later this year.

Worldgrid provides consulting and engineering services to energy and utility companies. The business currently employs close to 1,100 employees and, in 2023, it generated revenue of circa €170 million.

Alten carries out design and research projects for technical and IT divisions of major clients in industry, telecoms and services. It has 3,000 consultants worldwide working in the energy sector across nuclear power, renewable, oil & gas, and energy storage.