French government offers €700m to nationalise Atos' big data and cyber division

The offer follows a letter of intent issued in April

The saga of French tech giant Atos' split, acquisition and partial nationalisation continues as the French government has made a non-binding offer for part of the firm's big data and cybersecurity (BDC) division.

The state has proposed to buy 100 per cent of Atos' Advanced Computing, Mission-Critical Systems and Cybersecurity Products activities for EUR700m (£589.9m).

The offer follows a letter of intent issued by the French state in April, in which it proposed to acquire certain BDC assets to keep them under France's control should Atos collapse.

Atos' board is now set to consider the proposal but has given no assurances of a definitive agreement.

"The Company confirms its objective of reaching a definitive financial restructuring agreement with the Onepoint consortium and its financial creditors, which will then be implemented through a dedicated accelerated procedure by July 2024," Atos said in a statement issued to the Paris Stock Exchange today.

Separately, the reseller this week accepted a restructuring proposal from the Onepoint consortium and Atos creditors.

The proposal foresees €2.9bn of existing debt being converted into equity.

The decision followed Atos postponing its decision deadline to weigh options from two consortiums as part of a conciliation process – the Onepoint group and a joint offer from EPEI with Attestor Limited.

The implementation of the restructuring proposal will result in a huge dilution of existing Atos shareholders, who would hold less than 0.1 per cent of the share capital.

The nationalisation and financial restructuring may finally bring to a close a near year-long ordeal for the ailing tech giant's ownership, after it initially began considering a split and sale to EPEI in July 2023.