Atos and the French government have failed to come to an agreement regarding the acquisition of Atos' assets.
The offer, officially made in June, was for the Paris government to take control of some of the struggling IT services company so as to keep them under French control.
The assets in question include the Advanced Computing, Mission-Critical Systems, and Cybersecurity activities of the Big Data & Security division, reports The Register. The government was reportedly willing to offer €700 million ($748m).
Some of those systems are involved in IT projects for France's public sector including the military.
The offer Atos received from the French state expired on October 4, with the two parties ultimately unable to reach an agreement.
Atos has offered to continue discussions and has proposed a new offer that will work alongside its ongoing financial restructuring plan.
In 2021, the company made the decision to separate the company into two separately listed organizations: Eviden which includes the Big Data & Security division, and Atos Tech Foundations. The debt issues led to both entities being put up for sale, in deals that have subsequently fallen through.
News that the French government might seek to buy some of Atos' assets emerged in April 2024, with French finance and economy minister Bruno Le Maire saying in an interview with LCI: “Atos has a number of activities that are strategic for the French nation, strategic for our sovereignty, and strategic for our defense in terms of cyber security, supercomputers, and nuclear. In Atos, there are sovereign activities that must remain under the exclusive control of France.”
As previously reported by DCD, Atos has been struggling to come to terms with its debt and owes €4.65 billion ($5.05bn) to its creditors, €3.65 billion ($3.9bn) of which is due to be paid back by the end of 2025.
In July, it agreed to a rescue package that would see its creditors take control of the business, with bonds and debt worth €3.1 billion ($2.9bn) converted to equity. The creditors will also provide €1.68 billion ($1.81bn) of new debt and €233 million ($250.7m) in new equity.
In September, the company issued a market update stating that it had cut its expected revenue for the next three years to “reflect the results of the first half of 2024, current business trends, and the expected impact on the group’s free cash flow.”