Atos shares plunge as rights issue pulled, starts debt talks

Shares in troubled French technology company Atos plunged by a quarter on Monday as pulled a €720m rights issue and entered talks with lenders.

Atos said it had appointed a mediator to oversee refinancing talks with lenders. The company faces €2.25bn in debt payments next year.

Talks to sell Tech Foundations, Atos's loss-making IT consulting arm, to Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky's EPEI group are ongoing, with "no certainty that these negotiations will result in an agreement", Atos said.

It warned in January that free cash flow would be slightly below its initial target for the second half of 2023.

The ditched rights issue was part of a plan unveiled in August to split the company and sell its lossmaking legacy IT business to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com