Thales Interested in Atos Defense Unit If Put on Sale, CFO Says

Benoit Berthelot, Bloomberg News

Thales SA is interested in a defense business that’s a part of Atos SE’s Big Data and Security unit if they are put on sale. Photographer: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images , Photographer: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Thales SA is interested in a defense business that’s a part of Atos SE’s Big Data and Security unit if they are put on sale, according to the French defense group’s Chief Financial Officer Pascal Bouchiat.

Thales is not interested in the entire BDS division, which also encompasses a cybersecurity business and supercomputers, because the firm is focused on integrating US cybersecurity group Imperva, Bouchiat said in an earnings call, according to a company spokesperson.

Bouchiat declined to comment on whether the group was in talks with the French government as part of the state bid on Atos’s strategic businesses.

On Monday, France made a non-binding offer to acquire the most strategically important businesses of the embattled tech group Atos, in a deal valuing those parts at between €700 million ($750 million) and €1 billion.

Read More: Atos Gets Offer From France for Key Parts as Cash Needs Rise