The answer is clear: no interest. Thales does not want to take a stake in Evidian, the company Atos needs to create to specifically house its cybersecurity businesses, the defense and technology group learned Tuesday. “No, because it doesn’t match the strategy of the group, which has no plans to diversify into markets other than the ones it already serves,” Thales told AFP in response to a question about his interest in Evidian. “The acquisition strategy is very clear and consistent,” said a group spokesperson. It is about “strengthening itself in its three main sectors of activity: aerospace, defence, security and digital identity”.
Thales has a presence in cybersecurity but this business represents only a small part of the future of Evidian, which the French IT giant is preparing to create to house its rapidly growing cybersecurity, high-performance servers and digitization consultancy businesses. . “The group applies rigorous discipline both in terms of valuation and value creation,” added the Thales spokesman. Atos, the former French IT services flagship with more than 110,000 employees, has experienced a steep decline in the stock market for more than two years, with its share price falling by around 80% and underperforming commercial.
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On Monday, its share price jumped 20% after an article in Les Echos said that Airbus and the IT group were in “preliminary discussions” for Airbus to buy a small stake in Evidian. “Atos is a partner, Atos is a supplier, Atos does cyber security business, so we are working with them and thinking about the future of the relationship with Atos. He is a very important partner for us, so yes, we are discussing with Atos”, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury confirmed on Friday.Orange is also said to be seeing activity within Evidian, as is IT consultancy group Onepoint, which tabled a proposal to take over Evidian in September, which was rejected “unanimously” by the board of directors of ‘Atos company. According to Atos’ plan, Evidian will go public in the second half of 2023.
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