Three contenders competing for acquisition, a proposal put forth by the creditors

The former French IT flagship Atos, in financial difficulty in recent years, announced this morning in a press release that it had received four proposals, and had kept three in the running, to find a restructuring solution. The group is expected to choose one by May 31, and reach an agreement by July.

Bain Capital's restrictive proposal dismissed

The takeover offer submitted by Bain Capital, an American investment fund, was rejected by the board of directors and the conciliator of Atos. For the IT group, the offer “did not meet the company's stated objectives of taking into account its entire scope”. The proposal was limited to the digital division of Eviden, a subsidiary of the group, making it incompatible with the current negotiations with the State. The latter wishes to acquire all of the activities of Advanced Computing, Mission-Critical Systems and Cybersecurity Products, of the Big Data & Cybersecurity (BDS) division of Atos.

Three proposals remain in the running, with Atos specifying that the solution chosen “will likely involve radical changes to the company's capital structure and a significant issuance of new equity securities, which will result in massive dilution of existing shareholders”. One of the projects, revealed Friday by The gallery, involves bondholders and banks, who share Atos' 5 billion euro debt. This offer, called “Alpha project”, includes financing of the company to the tune of 1.2 billion euros, with 600 million euros of new bonds and 600 million euros of new bank loans. Creditors would be ready to convert part of the debt into capital.

Towards a Kretinsky-Layani duel?

The second offer is made by Czech businessman and billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, through his fund EP Equity Investment associated with the British hedge fund Attestor Limited, a duo already formed on the takeover of Casino. It proposes a capital increase of 600 million euros, with 1.3 billion euros in facilities and a restructuring of Atos' existing debt.

Finally, the third project is led by the French company Onepoint and its founder David Layani, also holder of more than 11% of Atos' capital and member of the board of directors. Onepoint is backed by businessman Walter Butler's fund, Butler Industries. This offer aims to invest 350 million euros in cash, in exchange for at least 35% of the shares, and 1.8 billion euros in new money, including 1.3 billion euros in new facilities and 500 million in fundraising.

Atos also announced the signing of a contract relating to revolving credit and term loan facilities, worth around 100 million euros. According to the group, discussions with banks on the establishment of a factoring program of 300 million euros “progress”. Last week, Atos said it would need 1.1 billion euros in liquidity to support its activities in 2024-2025, compared to 600 million euros initially announced.