French government enters negotiations to buy Atos computing arm

The French Government has entered negotiations to acquire Atos’ advanced computing activities for an enterprise value of €500 million and up to €625 million including earn-outs.

The multinational information technology service and consulting company said it received a non-binding proposal from the French State for the potential acquisition of its BDS division’s advanced computing activities, which includes its high-performance computing (HPC) and quantum arm as well as its computing and artificial intelligence divisions.

The computing business currently employs approximately 2,500 employees and registered revenues of around €570 million in 2023.The offer received from the French state includes an exclusive until May 31, 2025. In addition, if the deal is signed, a share purchase agreement could be signed with Atos receiving an initial payment of €150 million.

Next steps include a financial valuation of assets to be carried by an independent expert to assess notably that the term of the transaction reflects a fair market value.

As part of the agreement, Atos said it would commit to launch a formal sale process for its cybersecurity products and mission critical systems, which generated revenue of circa €340 million in 2023.

Atos currently has around 82,000 employees and annual revenue of around €10 billion.

The group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for a cross-section of industries in 69 countries.