ATOS SE At 10:30 am GMT, Atos shares were up 14.07% at 10.28 euros, their biggest session gain since October 26.
According to Les Echos, citing sources familiar with the matter, Airbus has entered into exploratory discussions with Atos to become a minority shareholder in Evidian.
In an e-mailed statement, Airbus said it was not commenting on the rumors, adding that it was "in constant discussion with our partners, customers and suppliers, but these conversations remain of a private nature".
Contacted by Reuters, Atos said that, in connection with the implementation of its strategic plan, it was engaged in "exploratory discussions with potential future minority shareholders in the scope of activities grouped under the Evidian name".
However, the group added that "these discussions are not sufficiently advanced to allow any further comment".
In September, Atos rejected an offer from the Onepoint group to buy Evidian for an enterprise value of 4.2 billion euros.
Defense group Thales is also being considered as a candidate to take over Atos' cybersecurity activities. Last February, Thales indicated that it was not in talks with the troubled IT services group, but said it was "potentially interested in any cybersecurity assets that might be available for sale".
The Thales share (-0.29%) was the only one to fall among CAC 40 stocks on Monday, after posting the best performance of the Paris index in 2022 (+59.49%).
Atos has
announced in June its plan to split off and combine its Big Data and Security (BDS) activities with its services operations, within a new entity called Evidian.
This restructuring project should enable the Group to emerge from a prolonged period of turbulence, which has led to several changes in management and the mistrust of investors.
On the stock market, Atos fell by 75.89% last year, having already lost 50% in 2021, bringing its market capitalization down to around one billion euros. (Written by Kate Entringer and Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
