MUFG Follows Santander in Offloading Atos Debt at Deep Discount

Irene García Pérez, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has offloaded exposure to debt it provided to Atos SE at a discount of almost 70%, just as the embattled French IT firm talks to creditors about refinancing options, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Japanese bank, known as Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi when it lent the money, sold a €40 million ($43.3 million) piece of a combined term loan and revolving credit facility earlier this month. The sale was settled in the low 30 cents on the euro, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

The deal follows a similar move by Banco Santander SA, which sold a €50 million stapled piece of a term loan and RCF in January in the low 40 cents on the euro. Both sales were done through Barclays Plc, the people said.

Spokespeople for MUFG, Atos, Barclays and Santander declined to comment.

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Atos — which comprises a legacy IT outsourcing business and a cybersecurity and big data unit — asked a court in Paris earlier this month to appoint a mediator to help negotiate refinancing with its lenders. It’s due to report full-year results on Feb. 29.

The company has €2.4 billion of bank debt due next year, but it also has to deal with €500 million of convertible bonds due in November, a €750 million bond due in May next year and about €1.2 billion of notes maturing between 2028 and 2029. Hedge funds holding Atos debt have contacted David Layani, the head of the French firm’s largest shareholder Onepoint, for talks about the restructuring, French newspaper Les Echos reported Friday. Onepoint holds a stake of about 11% in Atos.

The French firm is talking to Airbus SE about the sale of BDS, its most strategic unit, for up to €1.8 billion. Separately it has also been in talks with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky for the sale of its IT legacy business, but the negotiations have stalled in recent months and the original terms no longer apply after the company recently canceled a rights issue that was part of the agreement.

--With assistance from Giulia Morpurgo.