Airbus is in preliminary negotiations with Atos to acquire a stake of up to 29.9% in Evidian, according to Les Echos. The Orange group is also said to be interested, according to the daily.

Thales, for its part, refuses to take a minority stake in Evidian, according to Les Echos.

' The defense group Thales has not changed its initial position, stating that it is only interested in a majority stake in its cybersecurity activities. It is therefore not interested in the scheme proposed by Atos to acquire a minority stake in Evidian, the group's future demerged entity combining its cybersecurity activities, application services and high-performance computers', says Invest Securities this morning.

' If the entry of a minority shareholder as early as 2023 were to materialize, this would more quickly than expected remove the uncertainties surrounding the financing of Tech Fondation, which is expected to post negative FCF (including restructuring charges) until 2024/2025 (150mE targeted in 2026). The question is to know what Evidian's valuation would be, as there is a wide gap on the subject today", adds Invest Securities.

As a reminder, last autumn Atos turned down an offer from OnePoint to buy 100% of Evidian for E4.2 billion, as the research firm points out.

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