Paris — Atos made a €4.3bn unsolicited bid for Gemalto with the backing of the French state’s investment bank, seeking to create a European leader in cyber security, digital technologies and payment services. Atos is proposing to pay €46 a share in cash, 36% above Monday’s closing price. It called the offer friendly and said it wanted to engage in discussions about a deal, which would be the biggest of the year between two European technology companies. Gemalto, a security software company that has seen its stock battered this year by a series of profit warnings and operational setbacks, said it was reviewing the proposal, which it described as conditional. Thierry Breton, the former French finance minister who runs Atos, said the company is "absolutely determined" to complete the transaction, and that it had the backing of Gemalto’s biggest shareholder, state-run investor Bpifrance Financement. A representative for Bpifrance said the fund would not comment on Atos’s bid, but welcom...
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