Atos, why the split project scares the markets

In concrete terms, big data and services (BDS) activities, which also include supercomputers (Bull) and cybersecurity, will be grouped together with digital in a new company, SpinCo, which will later take the name of Evidian. It will be directed by Philippe Oliva. It now generates a turnover of 4.9 billion euros, 1.4 billion from BDS and 3.5 billion from software and services. With 59,000 employees, it is recognized by Gartner as the world number 1 in managed security services and by Hyperion as the 3^th supercomputing world. Evidian will be managed by Philippe Oliva.

Atos keeps outsourcing

The second entity, TFCo, will keep the name of Atos, and will consist of the activities of Tech Foundations with a turnover of 5.4 billion euros. It includes all the infrastructure and outsourcing part in decline. The sale of SpinCo’s shares will finance its recovery plan for TFCo. Nourdine Bihmane has been appointed Deputy CEO in charge of Tech Foundation and will lead TFCo.

Read alsoWhy the descent into hell continues for Atos

Atos also decided to sell the 2.5% it still held in Worldline, a former subsidiary that became fully independent and listed in 2014. Worldline shares lost 7% on the stock market following this placement. Since its IPO, Worldline’s value has more than doubled while that of Atos has halved over the same period.

The state carefully monitors

“If the decision were taken to implement this project, specifies the press release from Atos, the split would be implemented during the second half of 2023, so that the shares of Evidian can be distributed by the end of the year 2023 according to the preferred scenario at this stage”. This strategy is totally disavowed by the markets and the title immediately lost more than 25%, a collapse of 59% since the beginning of the year. The IPO of Evidian will be strictly supervised because the French State considers that the manufacture of supercomputers and software used by the army is a strategic activity. This framework will aim to prevent shareholding from falling into non-European hands. The State “follows carefully” the Atos file, we recognize in Bercy. “We are of course attentive to the shareholding of the company”, considered as “strategic in many respects for France“, it was added within the cabinet of the Minister of Economy and Finance where we also recalls that a decree on the control of foreign investments “protects the capital of strategic companies from attacks by foreign investors”. Moreover, Thales, which has never hidden its interest in BDS, has a financial capacity that could enable it to play a role. A possible alliance with Orange and Airbus to build a stable shareholding would also be on the table.