Atos Chairman Meunier steps down amid shareholders’ uproar

(Reuters) – Atos Chairman Bertrand Meunier has stepped down, the French IT consulting group said on Monday, following an uproar by several minority shareholders as the company seeks to sell large chunks of its businesses to Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinksy.

Jean-Pierre Mustier, the former CEO of Italian bank UniCredit, is taking the helm of Atos’ board, the company said.

He will be tasked to revive investors’ trust and secure the contemplated deal with Kretinsky after a governance crisis and a series of setbacks pummeled Atos’ shares, now trading at near record lows.

The contemplated sale of Atos’ loss-making legacy IT operations to Kretinsky is contested by several minority shareholders and some French politicians.

Atos also said it now expected the completion of the proposed sale of Tech Foundations to Kretinsky to take place in the second quarter of 2024.

In the event of a failure of the deal with Kretinsky, Atos would have to consider the sale of additional assets or “access the debt and equity markets” to safeguard the liquidity of Atos, the company added.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Pierre John Felcenloben; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Shri Navaratnam)