Faced with the French group’s financial difficulties, Bercy wants to prevent its strategic projects, particularly military projects, from “passing into the hands of foreign players”.
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An issue of national sovereignty? The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced on Sunday April 28 that he had sent a letter of intent to the French IT giant Atos with a view to acquiring “all sovereign activities” of the group in difficulty. Such an operation would prevent crucial activities for France from “pass into the hands of foreign actors”he declared on LCI.
“When we see threats to a private group that carries out strategic activities, I take my responsibilities and I guarantee that these strategic activities remain French”defended the minister, evoking a “heavy decision”.
In the midst of financial turmoil, Atos notably owns supercomputers used for nuclear deterrence and contracts with the French army. The former flagship, which is one of the technological pillars of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, lost 80% of its stock market value in one year after seeing two sales operations collapse in quick succession. his activities. Heavily indebted, Atos indicated at the beginning of April that it was looking for 1.2 billion euros in new money. The company has set a deadline of May 3 for its creditors to make refinancing proposals.
