Atos Shares Jump on Report of Airbus Interest in Evidian

By Ed Frankl

Shares in Atos SE rose sharply on Monday after a media report said Airbus SE has begun talks about taking a stake in its Evidian cyber division.

Airbus is in preliminary discussions about acquiring a minority stake in Evidian, which bundles Atos's digital, big data and security activities, according to French business daily Les Echos.

Shares at 1200 GMT were up 17% to EUR10.54. Airbus shares were up 1.8% to EUR112.98.

A spokeswoman for Atos said preliminary negotiations were underway with potential future minority shareholders.

"These discussions are not sufficiently advanced to allow any further comment," the spokeswoman added.

Airbus said the company was in constant discussions with its partners, customers and suppliers in all its sectors of activity.

At the end of September, Atos rejected an offer from the U.K. private-equity fund Onepoint to acquire Evidian for an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros ($4.50 billion).

This story was translated in whole or in part from a French-language version initially published by L'Agefi-Dow Jones.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 02, 2023 07:33 ET (12:33 GMT)

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