Atos open for French state to take minority stake in strategic business unit BDS

PARIS (Reuters) - Struggling IT firm Atos is open to ’any solution’ which would allow to financially rescue the group while preserving France’s national security interests, Chairman Jean-Pierre Mustier said on Wednesday, adding the government could decide to acquire a minority stake. 

Mustier told senators in a parliamentary hearing the group has safeguard mechanisms in place to ensure the government’s control of strategic assets like super-calculators and cybersecurity services used by the military and nuclear plants. 

But to reinforce the state’s position after its current financial restructuring, the government could decide to acquire a minority stake in cybersecurity unit BDS "just as it did with other companies", Mustier said, citing defense groups Thales and Airbus. 

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Editing by Dominique Vidalon)