Takeover of Atos: negotiations at daggers drawn between Layani, Kretinsky and the banks

The major maneuvers for the takeover of Atos have indeed begun. And the duel between Daniel Kretinsky and David Layani for the revival of the group is in full swing. As discussions on the takeover of the group intensify, the creditor banks expressed their opinion in a letter addressed to the interministerial committee for industrial restructuring (Ciri) and to the judicial administrator Hélène Bourbouloux, as revealed by The gallery. They threatened to reject Daniel Kretinsky’s offer. Tensions are also high within the banking pool. According to The letter, BNP Paribas, Daniel Kretinsky’s main business partner, announced that it was leaving the steering committee which brings together financial institutions. Other French banks could join the Czech billionaire’s camp.

For his part, David Layani, candidate for the global takeover of Atos with Walter Butler to make it “OneAtos”, attacks the Czech businessman on the strategy he wishes to implement. This provides for a split of the group and a “limited” takeover of Atos’ outsourcing activities. In the background of the controversy: the scope of the group’s so-called strategic activities.

To support the mistrust, one of Layani’s consulting firms listed Atos’ “strategic” activities according to the part of the group concerned (TechFoundations and/or Eviden). It is difficult to report the entire listing which details more than a hundred of the group’s strategic or sovereign activities but it appears, according to our information, that several sectors are concerned: health, local authorities, central administrations and the parapublic, defense and security.

These activities often concern Tech Foundations – considered the non-strategic part of Atos and which Daniel Kretinsky, sometimes Eviden, covets. These activities also sometimes merge into the two entities. Thus in the health sector, Tech Foundations “supports the deployment of the computerized patient file in the 38 APHP hospitals”. A sector that has become highly strategic to the extent that hospitals have become the targets of frequent cyberattacks.

In the local authority sector, Tech Foundations (TF) works on the information systems of several cities, notably Marseille. Concerning central administrations, TF allows “taxpayers to declare their income online” on the impots.gouv.fr website.

In the parapublic sector, TF also operates in the strategic nuclear sector through “the exploitation of critical applications from EDF, ORANO and Framatome”.

But it is in defense and security that the activities and complementarity of the two entities are most obvious. Thus, according to the note, TF allows “the supply of spare parts for the national navy fleet”.

TechFoundations and Eviden work together across the entire value chain of the Navalgroup company. And for the Ministry of the Armed Forces, TF ensures “the networking of all IT resources, in order to communicate acquisition systems and weapon systems”.

Obviously, this note which details the strategic activities of Atos is not devoid of ulterior motives since it seeks to show that the strategic and sovereign aspects concern the entire Atos group, that a split would involve significant risks and that It is therefore appropriate to favor David Layani’s project which would make it possible to keep the group under the French flag, while maintaining it in its current integrity.

An observation, shared, in part, by the senators of the fact-finding mission who recently submitted their report on Atos. They considered that “sensitive strategic activities of a sovereign nature are not limited to one of these two parties, but are present in all of the group’s activities”. They also expressed “their doubts as to a possible porosity between the contracts attached to the Tech Foundations entity and those attached to the Eviden entity, and in particular to its BDS branch bringing together leading sovereign activities”.

On Daniel Kretinsky’s side, representatives of the holding company – rather discreet until then – were present in Paris this week at the premises of the Weil law firm which advises the billionaire. “We are interested in the networking industry, in the broad sense, and for us, Atos fits into this logic,” explained Jiri Novacek, who is part of the board of EPEI, Daniel Kretinsky’s holding company.

Regarding the split of the group, the Kretinsky camp believes that the joint activities of the different entities are not very important and it is even the split into two different segments which will, according to them, allow the “rescue” of Atos. “Everyone presents a very different diagnosis on the health of Atos. We are the only ones to have freedom of tone on the real situation of the company, which is falling off the cliff” warned the representative of Daniel Kretinsky who believes that the state of the group requires a “profound restructuring” but which would mainly concern Germany.

We also emphasize the methods of financing the acquisition of the group: “For Daniel, the key point is that he is gambling with his money, it is not a bet that he makes with other people’s money, it is an instructive element of comparison with the offers of others who are not at all in the same situation at the risk of repeating past errors” assures the Kretinsky camp which judges that the OneAtos plan proposed by David Layani should mobilize at least 400 million euros of investment. Not counting the renegotiation of the debt of 5.2 billion euros by the end of 2025.

“If this restructuring is not carried out taking into account the reality of the company’s financial situation, the speed of decline could be enormous and there will be nothing left in a year. It’s not just a scarecrow,” comments Challenges the representative of Daniel Kretinsky’s holding company. The latter does not rule out modifying its offer before presenting its official project next week by the deadline for submitting offers on May 31.

But the one-upmanship at work between the different applicants does not please everyone. In the entourage of the Minister of the Economy, we would prefer that “everyone keep calm” even if we also recognize that it is a competition that is underway. It is especially on the side of Atos management that we very little appreciate the atmosphere: “The Atos board cannot accept the recent unacceptable public statements which damage the reputation of the group and wishes that these comments cease immediately to allow our employees to continue working peacefully to support our customers with all the energy and dedication they show every day,” warned Jean-Pierre Mustier, Chairman of the Board of Directors in a press release. Not sure, however, that this call for a truce will be respected.