In the middle of summer, David Layani kicks the ground. His vacation in Corsica may be sunny, but the businessman doesn’t cut it short. He is not worried about his IT company OnePoint, which he created twenty years ago, but about the giant Atos. “It is a company that fascinates me and that I have followed for almost 25 years,” explains David Layani. “I have been actively researching an operation for 18 months.” A fascination that becomes an obsession for this 44-year-old self-taught man who thinks about it tomorrow, afternoon and evening.
When Atos’ share price fell 50% in three days at the end of July, he smelled a good deal. For 6 euros, the action becomes interesting. He privately confesses that if it drops to 4 euros, he will be willing to buy it “under the radar”, below 5% of the capital, so as not to be unmasked. The stars aligned when Atos announced on August 1 the sale of its historic IT services businesses to Daniel Kretinsky. An operation that frees the group from declining activities that do not interest the founder of OnePoint.
At this point, however, there still remains one major obstacle: Bertrand Meunier. The president of Atos has not wanted to know anything about David Layani for a year.
A “thumb” faces a giant
Backward turn. At the end of 2022, OnePoint entered the matter by offering to buy Atos with an investment fund. An offensive of 4,000 million euros (debt included), considered aggressive by Meunier, but which brought into play David Layani, who was already looking at the other Atos subsidiary, called Eviden. Its digital applications businesses would perfectly complement OnePoint’s. He also dreams of activities in the cloud and cybersecurity but has few resources. His company, with 3,500 employees and 500 million euros in turnover, cannot be compared with Atos’ 11,000 million euros in turnover.
David Layani could not digest the rejection of Bertrand Meunier, who mocked him and called him “little thumb”, a nickname he still retains. At the beginning of the year he attacked again and took care of his image. He surrounded himself with lawyer Antoine Gosset-Grainville, also president of Axa, and well known in financial and political circles. A perfect son-in-law figure to soften his cowboy image.
In February, Atos began talks with Airbus to invite it to acquire 30% of Eviden. But the aircraft manufacturer is only interested in cybersecurity and supercomputing activities (big data & security, BDS). OnePoint is then positioned to take care of the rest, cloud and digital application activities.
He is convinced that he is the only one who can buy back all of Eviden. Atos doesn’t want Thales, Airbus gives up.
Presidential dreams
David Layani then looks for another angle of attack. Hope is reborn with good weather. Angry small shareholders dream of dismissing Bertrand Meunier at the general meeting at the end of June. He is reaching out to the “Atos shareholders union” and the Sycomore fund that is leading the revolt. The boss of OnePoint courts them to secure their support and suggests names of directors to propose discrediting the president. Former Altran and Euronext boss Dominique Cerutti is one of them.
The businessman is already planning to increase Atos’ capital and is seeking funds from billionaires such as Xavier Niel. In vain… To achieve his objectives, he does not forget to take care of his precious right-wing political networks. Close to Nicolas Sarkozy, he is close to Bruno Le Maire. At the end of June, a few days before the Atos general assembly, the Minister of Economy inaugurated the new OnePoint headquarters in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. But this is not enough. The president of Atos Bertrand Meunier renews during the general meeting. He failed again.
Summer leaves no room for respite. Atos’ poor results caused the price to fall. And the sale of the historic branch to Daniel Kretinsky reignites the shareholder revolt. Two complaints have been filed with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. The Alix fund denounces “corruption”, while Atos managers must receive incentive bonuses of several tens of millions of euros. The CIAM fund points out the group’s “misleading” financial communication. Bertrand Meunier is once again the target.
David Layani feels the wind changing. After trying with shareholders, he approached management. He contacts Jean-Pierre Mustier, the new administrator of the group, of whom everyone internally senses that he will soon be president. A Parisian banker surprises the founder of OnePoint at a restaurant, dining with Diane Galbe, the IT giant’s chief strategy officer. Atos cornered, Layani is no longer “persona non grata”.
A Bolloré style attack?
When Bertrand Meunier arrived in mid-October, he knew his time had finally come. He orders Société Générale and Crédit Agricole to buy Atos shares on the market. He paid around 70 million euros to acquire 9.9% of the capital, a “huge” sum for him, as he confided to a close friend. The new president Jean-Pierre Mustier welcomes his arrival positively. David Layani feels like he is growing wings. In the corridors of the group’s headquarters in Bezons, sensitive cybersecurity activities are already considered “acceptable”. Unlikely honeymoon atmosphere between OnePoint and Atos after a year of war.
Small shareholders are more mixed. “It’s good news that an investor is taking the reins,” says Hervé Lecesne, a member of the Udaac small landowners’ association. “We must review the financial conditions of the operation with Daniel Kretinsky and avoid a capital increase to increase the share price.” . Others fear a raid like the one carried out by Vincent Bolloré.
In the crosshairs: “BDS”. The nugget of supercomputers and cybersecurity whose sale would allow Eviden to be rescued and avoid a capital increase of 900 million euros. Now a shareholder, Layani has no interest in supporting him. He does not commit to anything, but promises to be “vigilant not to sell assets,” he assures BFM Business.
On the other hand, his detractors will also be. The activist fund CIAM says it is not fooled. “OnePoint has a strategic interest in purchasing Atos assets,” explains its boss Catherine Berjal. “We will be careful to ensure that it does not take progressive control and harm minority shareholders.” If he wants to go further, David Layani will have no choice but to look for allies. “He will need industrial and financial partners if he wants to take control of Eviden,” says Dominique Cerutti, Cap Gemini’s former rival. Other manufacturers that have their eye on Atos, such as Thales, Airbus, OVH and Alten, are waiting for it.
Source: BFM TV
