Atos - comment

After several press articles outlining the shareholders' (OnePoint and Walter Butler, financed by Carlyle)  approach to a potential restructuring of Atos, creditors have responded with an article in Les Echos.  Bondholders, who have now joined into a single Group, have indicated their willingness in principle to halve the company's debt and inject €1.2bn of new money. However, the underlying tenet of the article is that creditors are the virtual owners and don’t need the assistance of outside investors. The creditor group includes Boussard & Gavaudan, D.E. Shaw, Tresidor and Syquant Capital who were in the original short dated bondholder group plus longer term holders including Schelcher Prince Gestion, OFI, Amundi Lombard Odier and Pictet, who were part of the longer dated bond group.