creditors and banks have reached an agreement to refinance the ailing French IT giant

Atos’ creditors have reached an agreement in principle to largely refinance the French IT group, franceinfo learned on Saturday May 4 from a source close to the matter. Good news which does not, however, signify the definitive rescue of the company, weighed down by a debt of around five billion euros and lacking new money to maintain its activity.

On April 29, Atos unveiled a new business plan after a less successful start to the year than expected in terms of its activity. The number one cybersecurity service in Europe has announced that it will need 1.1 billion euros in liquidity for its activity in 2024-2025, compared to 600 million euros previously estimated. In their refinancing offer, Atos’ obligatory creditors and banks say they are ready to provide new money.

The group also specified that it wanted to reduce its gross debt by 3.2 billion euros, whereas it initially wanted to reduce it by half. But according to a source close to the matter, the Atos company will not obtain as much as requested in its new business plan. Creditors are ready to wipe out part of the debt of around 2.5 and a half billion euros.

A “very rare” alliance between creditors

This alliance between creditors is described as “very rare” by several actors in the case. She is “positive”, according to the unions. But the latter remain cautious and are waiting to know the takeover offers submitted to Atos, and especially the scope of activities that will be kept.

The French state has expressed interest to the struggling French IT giant in acquiring all of its sovereign activities. These include supercomputers used for nuclear deterrence and even cybersecurity products. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, explained that the objective was to prevent strategic activities for France from “pass into the hands of foreign actors”.