Services giant Atos gets shares boost after reports of cybersecurity arm interest from Airbus

Atos’ Evidian business contains its suite of Identity and Access Management software tools

Services giant Atos gets shares boost after reports of cybersecurity arm interest from Airbus

2023 may be off to a better start for IT services giant Atos after rumours of a newcomer eying up its cybersecurity unit.

The group is reportedly in preliminary talks with Airbus to take a minority stake in its Evidian business, according to a report from local French press Les Echos.

Evidian is the new digital, big data and security focused company of Atos.

Last year the group announced plans to split into two publicly listed companies by spinning off its cybersecurity business under the name Evidian.

Atos shares picked up around seven per cent on Monday following the report.

This is a significant turning point for the company which saw shares lose more than half of their value last year.

Who will win Evidian?

Airbus isn't the only potential suitor for Evidian, with Thales throwing its name into the ring to snap up the business.

In February Thales put a reported $3bn (€2.6bn) offer on the table for the cybersecurity arm.

More recently Atos was approached by French rival onepoint and British private equity fund ICG.

However Atos shot down the €4.2bn offer, stating it was "not in the interest of the company and its stakeholders."

The rejection led to a retort from onepoint which urged Atos to reconsider, claiming an alliance between the two would allow it to gain one year on its transformation project and to generate sufficient financial resources.

Turning point for Atos

This year could prove to be a pivotal one for Atos, which experienced its fair share of knocks during 2022.

January 2022 had a shaky start after the group's CEO Elie Girard left the company for undisclosed reasons.

The group then issued its second profit warning in seven months, telling investors the revised guidance communicated in July 2021 will not be met due to "several significant effects" - more on which, below.

The following month Atos yet again cut its forecast after admitting its previous predictions issued January 10 2022 could not be met.