BDS is part of an Atos entity, dubbed Eviden which develops, produces and maintains advanced cybersecurity products that bring together data protection, access management and digital identities and supports clients throughout their digital transformation in compliance with new regulations
Airbus is in talks with Atos to acquire the latter's cybersecurity division BDS. (Credit: bertholdbrodersen from Pixabay)
Dutch aerospace company Airbus is reportedly in talks with French IT service and consulting company Atos to acquire the latter’s cybersecurity division BDS.
BDS is part of an Atos entity, dubbed Eviden, in which Airbus decided earlier this year not to make an offer for a 29.9% stake. Eviden was formerly named Evidian.
The communication on the offer for the stake in Eviden had never been entirely broken off, reported Reuters citing a source with knowledge of the matter.
Eviden develops, produces and maintains advanced cybersecurity products that bring together data protection, access management and digital identities.
The unit also supports clients throughout their digital transformation in compliance with new regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS and eIDAS.
According to the French media Le Figaro, the board of directors of Airbus and Atos are holding bilateral talks in this regard.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that the company was open to a strategic partnership with Atos following the withdrawal from the Eviden deal, reported Reuters.
Besides, the news agency reported that Faury had previously stated the deal would make sense as aerospace is increasingly driven by big data, connectivity and high-power computing.
Airbus cancelled the plan to acquire a stake in Eviden following the opposition of hedge fund manager Christopher Hohn and some other investors, said Reuters.
According to the news agency, Hohn and others found Eviden to be a highly levered company and concluded that the deal would dilute the quality of the Airbus business.
Last year, Atos was awarded a contract by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) for the hosting, housing, maintenance, management, and public cloud migration of its SAP-centric IT infrastructure.