French IT firm Atos agrees to sell Worldgrid unit to Alten

PARIS (Reuters) - Atos said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to sell its Worldgrid business unit to Alten for 270 million euros ($293.7 million) on an enterprise value basis, in a transaction expected to close before end-2024.

The agreement comes as France boosts its efforts to protect Atos, a struggling software company that is nonetheless considered one of Europe’s most strategic firms in the software and technology sector.

The deal received approval from the EU Commission in September and from the Nanterre Commercial Court last month. The Worldgrid unit employs 1,100 employees and generated 170 million euros in revenue last year.

($1 = 0.9194 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)