After a troubled year and a series of new CEOs, Atos seemed to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat in July, when it locked in a $1.8 billion restructuring plan with its banks and shareholders. That wasn’t enough to get it back into the black, though, and its net loss in the first half of the year grew to €1.91 billion (about $2.1 billion), compared to a loss of €600 million a year earlier.
The expiry of the government’s offer doesn’t mean it’s all over. Atos said it has offered to continue discussions and has sent the government a new proposal. That offer will need not just the agreement of the government, but also the Commercial Court in Nanterre, which is waiting to receive the company’s safeguard plan on October 15.
The company played down the importance of the billion-dollar deal falling through, saying that “the expiry of the offer has no impact on the current financial restructuring process” and in any case its restructuring plan “includes the preservation of these activities within the Atos Group.”
