Airbus bid for 30% stake in Atos Evidian security business

The Paris-based conglomerate said it would do due diligence and begin negotiations with the Dutch aircraft manufacturer on Airbus supplies and a long-term strategic and technological partnership between the two firms. Airbus has said it will not make any concessions to Atos and remains open to offers from other parties who can finance and support a major industrial project (see: Report: Airbus eyes minority stake in Atos security business).

Bertrand Meunier, chairman of the board of directors of Atos, said: “Airbus’ interest in becoming an anchor shareholder is a recognition of Avidia’s unique capabilities in an increasingly complex digital environment with high security challenges.” “Through this proposed large-scale partnership, we will accelerate Avidian’s industrial project and future growth while ensuring technical sovereignty.”

Investors in Atos reacted positively to the Airbus offer, sending the company’s shares up 17.5%, or $2.20, to $14.83 before the market opened Thursday before the bid was announced. Meanwhile, Airbus stock has risen 5.5%, or $7.06, to $134.41 a share in the past two days. Airbus said it expects revenue to grow 12.9 percent to $62.89 billion in 2022 and annual earnings of $5.78 per share.

Develop cross-selling opportunities

Atos said it plans to spin off Evidian as a separate, publicly-listed company by the end of 2023, and plans to sell part of its ownership in Evidian to Atos’ $6.99 billion infrastructure and data management business, as well as banking benefits of the transformation plan. A $4.38 billion business and platform solutions division. Atos will hold up to 30% stake in Avidian following the demerger.

“There are a lot of complements and synergies with what Avidian is doing.”

– Guillaume Faury, CEO, Airbus

Neither Atos nor Airbus disclosed how much Airbus offered to pay for Avidian’s nearly 30% stake. In September, Atos rejected a $4.12 billion offer from rival Onepoint to acquire Ividian. Atos valued Ividian at about $7.49 billion, including $3.21 billion in debt, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters (see: Atos Rejects $4.12B Onepoint Bid for Cyber ​​Security Business).

Airbus CEO Guillaume Farry said: “The worlds of business aviation, defense, space, helicopters will be in a cyber-secure environment with data, big data, connectivity, cloud-based solutions, connected things.” Thursday during the earnings press conference. “So there are a lot of complements and synergies with what Evidian does.”

Having Airbus as an anchor shareholder with a long-term strategic and technology agreement will strengthen Avidia’s European leadership and reach in cloud, advanced computing, digital security and digitization, according to Atos. The investment will allow Airbus and Avidia to generate sales opportunities and enter new markets such as secure cloud, data management and security, he said.

Leading the way in managed security services

Combining Airbus’s capabilities in managed security services and supercomputing with Avidia will create a unique European entity in cybersecurity, public safety, critical national infrastructure and defense sector digitalization, Atos said. Gartner recognized Atos as the world’s largest managed security services provider after growing its practice by 20.9% by 2021.

In the first half of 2022, revenue for the Atos Ividian business reached $2.49 billion, up 2% in constant currency from $2.44 billion a year ago, driven by market-leading growth from the company’s cybersecurity practice. Evidian has 50,000 employees focused on its $3.43 billion digital transformation business and 9,000 employees serving its $1.38 billion big data and security practice.

Airbus has three divisions: The $44.31 billion commercial aircraft business is expected to grow 15 percent by 2022. defense and space trade to $12.04 billion in 2022, growing 11 percent; and the $7.54 billion helicopter business, growing by 8 percent by 2022. Cyber ​​security is part of Airbus’s defense and space division, which includes security operations centers, emergency response services and encryption for NATO countries.

Airbus operates a 400-person cybersecurity subsidiary in Europe called StormShield, which sells data, endpoint and network security technology. Airbus said last year that it would enhance Stormshield’s research and development activities to enhance the company’s portfolio in network security, data encryption and endpoint detection and response (see: Airbus will develop an organization focused on cyber security.).