Atos grabs lifeline from Onepoint

Atos has opted for a rescue offer from Onepoint consortium that, together with offers from the French government and Alten to acquire parts of the business, lifts the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the ailing French IT services company.

Onepoint’s proposal provides for a restructuring of Atos’ financial debt and the establishment of a sustainable capital structure, Atos said on Tuesday, the same day it announced that it had received a €270 million (about $290 million) offer from engineering consultant Alten to acquire Worldgrid, the part of Atos that provides consulting services to energy and utility companies.

On Friday, the French government made its move, offering €700 million (about $750 million) for Atos’ advanced computing, mission-critical systems, and cybersecurity products activities, control of which it considers a matter of national security.

While Atos expects the Alten deal to close later this year, detailed negotiations with Onepoint and with the French government are continuing.

According to Atos, Onepoint’s offer includes the following parameters:

• €2.9 billion of existing debt are to be converted into equity,
• €1.5 billion in new debt, including €300 million in bank guarantees,
• €250 million of equity, including €175 million from the Onepoint consortium and €75 million from creditors.

At the beginning of April, Atos executives had asked existing and potential new investors for offers for recapitalization. At the end of April, the service provider then had to admit that it needed significantly more cash to be able to maintain business operations until 2025. This is unlikely to have made the search for investors any easier, because instead of €600 million, the financing requirement suddenly amounted to €1.1 billion.

At the beginning of May, Atos received four offers of help. Most recently, two offers were still in the running. A decision was supposed to be made in the first week of June, but the negotiations do not seem to have been easy. Now there is apparently a solution on the basis of which all parties involved want to work out a final restructuring agreement by July.

Creditors support Onepoint proposal

“The Board of Directors has concluded, under the aegis of the Conciliator, that the proposal received from the Onepoint consortium aligns with the corporate interest of Atos, including its employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, shareholders and other stakeholders,” Atos officially announced on June 11. The proposal fits with the financial ratios presented by the company, ensures a stronger capital structure and, in particular, offers adequate financial liquidity to finance the business. Onepoint’s proposal is also supported by a large number of financial creditors of Atos.

This means that the EPEI consortium with the controversial Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky will not get a chance. EPEI had already abandoned its original plans to acquire Atos’ legacy infrastructure management activities, Tech Foundations, in February 2024. Now the second attempt, launched together with the London-based asset manager Attestor, is also failing. EPEI wanted to make Atos the “leading European industrial company for the development, optimization, operation and marketing of data centers as a service”. Less profitable activities are to be abandoned, others are to be relocated to low-cost countries. Whether Atos should be kept together or split up, EPEI left open.

Atos should not be split up

Instead, Onepoint had emphasized in its offer that it wanted to preserve Atos in its entirety and focus on the vertical integration of Atos’ diverse business areas. This includes cloud hosting, infrastructure management, cybersecurity and consulting services, among others. The aim is to build a French champion for large-scale transformations for companies and public players, with a turnover of €11 billion and around 100,000 employees, the offer said. “Cybersecurity will be an integral part of the continuum from managed services to infrastructure.”

This Onepoint strategy probably fit better with the ideas of the Atos managers. “Today is an important milestone in our financial restructuring process,” said Jean-Pierre Mustier, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atos, commenting on the decision. A solution has been created that corresponds to the interests of the company’s stakeholders, especially employees and customers. “The proposal submitted by the Onepoint consortium is generally in line with the key financial parameters outlined by the company in April,” added Atos CEO Paul Saleh. “In particular, it will adequately fund the deal.”

Atos will now work with the Onepoint consortium under the auspices of the arbitrator to finalize the final contract documents, with the aim of reaching a final agreement on the financial restructuring by July.