By Mathieu Rosemain and Tassilo Hummel

PARIS (Reuters) – The battle for debt-laden IT consulting firm Atos pits Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky against French businessman David Layani, indicative offers, presenting widely different tactics to strengthen the company’s finances, showed on Monday.

Once a flagship technology company included in the French bluechip CAC-40 share index, Atos grew quickly through acquisitions but later made strategic mistakes against a backdrop of unstable governance, sending its shares down by more than 90% over the last three years.

A mediator has been vested in to help find new money and restructure the group’s 4.8 billion euro ($5.17 billion) debt.

Out of four bids Atos said it received, the company’s board has already rejected one put forward by Bain Capital, it said. Another comes from some of the company’s creditors, who say they would welcome an anchor investor.

The two remaining bidders are ready for the task.

One is Atos’ biggest shareholder with 11%, Layani. His pitch centres on keeping Atos under French control. Together with partner investment company Butler Industries, he is offering 350 million of new money.

Under their plan, Layani and Butler would get a stake of at least 35% of Atos and erase debt of 3.2 billion euros through a mix of non-repayments, extension and conversion into equity, according to their indicative bid published on Atos’ website.

Layani, the founder and chief executive of smaller Atos rival Onepoint, promises to preserve jobs and keep all Atos’ assets. His offer would allow for a total capital injection of up to 500 million euros.

MORE SEVERE DEBT RESTRUCTURING?

This contrasts with the indicative bid led by Kretinsky’s EPEI group, joined by British investment fund Attestor.

While offering to inject 600 million euros in new money, the two also seek to reduce the debt by a more sizeable 4 billion euros, through what they call a “contingent instrument” to compensate creditors with some of the possible proceeds from selling parts of Atos, according to their published bid.

Atos’ commercial situation explains the need for a more severe debt restructuring, according to Kretinsky and Attestor, who would get 99% of Atos under their plan.

Kretinsky, whose takeover of French supermarket chain Casino in a similar debt restructuring deal was finalised in March, also offers to provide a total of 1.3 billion euros in financing over five years.

Atos said it would decide which offer to pursue by the end of the month, while also negotiating the French state’s planned takeover of its cybersecurity, military communication and supercomputing assets.

Separately, the bid from Atos’s main bondholders and bank creditors offers 1.2 billion euros in new money through bonds and guarantees as well as the conversion of debt worth 1.8 billion euros into equity.

($1 = 0.9290 euros)

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel,; Editing by GV De Clercq, Kirsten Donovan and Barbara Lewis)

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