Thales is exploring a plan to potentially acquire BDS (the cybersecurity arm of Atos), according to Reuters. The strategy could involve private equity firms acquiring the remaining IT services components of Atos, the report suggested. Still, the Atos cybersecurity business is not for sale, a spokesperson told the media outlet.Both Thales and Atos BDS rank among the world's Top 250 MSSPs. A potential Thales-BDS combination would create a cybersecurity giant in France.The M&A speculation surfaced only a few weeks after Atos named Rodolphe Belmer as CEO and the company completed the Cloudreach acquisition. Rumors about Atos being up for sale have also surfaced from time to time. Among the reasons: Atos financial performance has generally lagged that of Accenture and other global systems integrators.January 2021: In Fidem, a Canadian cybersecurity consulting firm with expertise in cloud protection, digital identity, risk management & security operations. December 2020: Motiv ICT Security, a major European MSSP with Security Operations Center (SOC) expertise. October 2020: SEC Consult Group for penetration testing, red teaming, technical assessments & cybersecurity services. June 2020: Paladion, an MSSP and managed detection and response (MDR) provider with SOC expertise. October 2019: IDnomic, a European digital identify infrastructure management company. More Atos acquisitions are listed here. Story published February 2, 2022. Updated February 3 to reflect Atos stating cybersecurity unit is not up for sale.
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Atos Cybersecurity: Buyout Offer Coming?
Joe Panettieri
Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.
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