The French IT company Atos has four new offers to reorganise its debt.
These offers are from a group of Atos’ current creditors: Bain Capital, EP Equity Investment, managed by Daniel Kretinsky, and Onepoint, managed by David Layani. Onepoint is also Atos’ biggest shareholder.
Atos’s board of directors has already decided to reject Bain Capital’s offer. They said the “offer did not meet the company’s objectives of considering its full business scope.”
Atos wants to choose a financial reorganisation solution that its creditors will accept by 31 May. They want to reach a final agreement by July 2024.
The company said that this will probably involve major changes to its capital structure and a large amount of new equity issuance, which will result in “massive dilution” for Atos shareholders.
Atos chairman Jean-Pierre Mustier said the bondholders and banks are working well towards a refinancing solution.
CEO Paul Saleh said he is confident they will reach a final agreement by July. This agreement will ensure the business continues for clients and will serve the interests of employees, clients, suppliers, creditors, shareholders, and other stakeholders.
In the first three months of 2024, Atos’ group revenue fell by 2.6 per cent, or €2.5 million, compared to the first three months of 2023. The Eviden business division saw a 3.9 per cent revenue drop. Atos said this was due to weaker market conditions in the Americas, down 7.5 per cent, and the UK.
The revenue of Tech Foundations also went down 1.5 per cent. This was because of the low level of work with specific customers in the Americas and Central Europe.
At the same time as the reorganisation efforts, Atos is talking with the French government about the possible purchase of 100 per cent of its Advanced computing, mission-critical systems, and cybersecurity products activities by the state agency APE.
The French government said it is interested in buying these activities earlier this year. These activities are part of Atos’ big data and security (BDS) business, which made about € billion in revenue from the €1.5 billion for the BDS division in 2023.
In a separate development, Atos signed a €100 million temporary financing deal with bondholders. It has also got approval for a €50 million loan from the state. At the same time, it is still talking with banks about a €300 million factoring facility.
