PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus has decided to end its plan to take a 29.9% stake in Atos’ future digital and cybersecurity business, inflicting a further setback on the struggling IT services group.

Atos and Airbus announced on February 16 that they had entered into non-exclusive discussions with a view to concluding a long-term technological agreement and to sell to the European aircraft manufacturer a minority stake in Evidian, the future entity which will bring together the most coveted assets of Atos such as the BDS cybersecurity division and supercomputers.

“After a thorough review, Airbus has come to the conclusion that the potential acquisition of a 29.9% minority stake in Evidian does not meet the company’s objectives in the current context and structure,” the company said on Wednesday. group in a press release.

According to a source close to the discussions, Airbus considered that the financial conditions for the participation initially envisaged had not been met.

Another source previously told Reuters that Atos valued Evidian at around seven billion euros, including three billion euros in debt. At this valuation level, a 29.9% stake in Evidian would therefore have cost 1.2 billion euros.

Atos and Airbus have however clarified that their discussions are continuing regarding a possible long-term partnership agreement.

“Atos confirms that the group will explore other options with Airbus and will continue to work on the long-term strategic and technological partnership between Airbus and Atos (…) with a view to submitting these options to its Board of Directors for consideration. ‘administration,” the group said in a brief separate statement.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the Atos share fell 17.3% to 10.64 euros at 1:51 p.m. GMT, showing the largest drop in the SBF 120, up 1.52% at the same time.

For its part, Airbus gained 1.9% to 121 euros, the action having increased its gains after the announcement in the morning of the end of the discussions.

Atos, whose market capitalization is only 1.18 billion euros, hit a historic low on the stock market last September, the result of a troubled period marked by a governance crisis and heavy losses.

An Airbus stake in Evidian would have provided Atos with a crucial investment as it strives to complete its spin-off plan.

“Any potential investment (from Airbus or otherwise) would have been a big relief to the stock as it would have alleviated short-term cash burn issues,” said Stifel analyst Chandramouli Sriraman.

In September, Atos rejected an offer to buy Evidian for an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros from the Onepoint group.

A time tipped as a possible buyer, Thales indicated in January that it was not interested in taking a stake in Evidian.

Atos, formed in part by a series of acquisitions made under the leadership of its former CEO, Thierry Breton, a former French finance minister and now European Commissioner for the Internal Market, has close ties to the security world in France. The state has the final say on partnerships.

A finance ministry spokesman declined to comment.

(Written by Jean-Stéphane Brosse and Blandine Hénault, with contributions from Tim Hepher, Leigh Thomas and Lina Golovnya, edited by Kate Entringer)

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