(Bloomberg) -- Embattled French IT company, Atos SE, dropped plans to sell €720 million ($777 million) in equity rights and said it’s seeking a mediator to help negotiate a refinancing with lenders. The shares plunged as much as 30% to a record low. 

Conditions for the rights offering were “no longer applicable” and a commitment from BNP Paribas and JPMorgan to underwrite the deal isn’t in effect anymore, Atos said in a statement on Monday 

That means the company is under increased pressure to negotiate a restructuring with its creditors ahead of a wall of debt maturities next year. Atos has €1.25 billion of bonds due by May 2025 and another €2.4 billion of bank debt. 

Atos — which comprises a legacy IT outsourcing business and a cybersecurity and big data unit — has been attempting to split the two sides of its business and reorganize after a series of setbacks sent its market value falling to €438 million at Friday’s close from €8.2 billion at the end of 2020. The company was slow to adapt to the industry’s shift to the cloud and has struggled to find a way to catch up to rivals and reignite growth. It’s had five chief executive officers in two-and-a-half years as managers wrangle over next steps. 

Read More: Atos to Offer Liability Management Plan to Tackle Looming Debt

Shares plunged 24% to €2.98 in Paris trading at 3:03 p.m. after earlier touching €2.74, its lowest-ever level and biggest intraday decline since June 2022. 

The capital increase had initially been announced in August, as part of a proposed deal to sell Atos’s legacy unit Tech Foundations to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EPEI. The talks with EPEI continue, Atos said, as do those with Airbus SE about a potential sale of its big data and cybersecurity business. 

Read More: Czech Billionaire Asked to Shell Out More Cash to Buy Atos Unit

Kretinsky’s original proposal included a capital increase for Atos’s data, cybersecurity and supercomputer units, called Eviden. Kretinsky was going to provide about €200 million of a €900 million total before deteriorating conditions and a political backlash required Atos to reduce the size. Atos said last month it was talking to EPEI about whether Kretinsky’s firm could be released from its commitment to participate in the capital increase, the company said on Wednesday.

Atos, which employs about 105,000 people globally, said it would keep the market updated on the discussions with its banks, its new refinancing plan, its contemplated disposals, as well as “the possible changes in its capital structure which could result in a dilution of the existing shareholders.” It also said it’s requested a court-appointed mediator, known as a “mandataire ad hoc” to help with the refinancing negotiations.

A group of lenders, including BNP Paribas, have engaged Ondra Partners as financial adviser and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as legal adviser, while a group of bondholders is working with investment bank Messier & Associes and law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher to advise them on the talks with the company. 

 

(Updates with additional context on Kretinsky’s participation in equity rights sale)

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