But who is behind the company Finsur Corp?
This company based in the US state of Delaware declared, on May 21, to the financial markets authority that it had crossed the threshold of 5% of the capital and voting rights of the French group Atos, becoming one of its main shareholders. .
Problem: The identity of the person (s) behind Finsur Corp remains a total mystery.
So much so that the management of Atos seized the authority of the financial markets, suspecting a risk of price manipulation.
Because at the time of its declaration, Finsur had sold part of the accumulated shares and had fallen below this threshold to 4.23% of the capital.
Deleted in France in 2020
"We have filed a complaint for price manipulation"
with the national financial prosecutor's office, a representative of the group told AFP. According to BFM Business, which revealed the information, the company Finsur Corp was registered in 2019 as a foreign company with a share capital of 20 million euros and then deregistered with the registry of the commercial court of Orléans on February 18, 2020 It had ceased all activity since January 9, 2020. Its leader in France, a man named Dylan Dariah, born in 1995 in Fort de France in Martinique, was then domiciled in Loiret. The activity of Finsur? "
Acquisition of interest in any form whatsoever, directly or indirectly and in particular by subscription and purchase of all transferable securities, bonds, shares or securities, listed or unlisted, or by means of financial instruments, in particular derivatives, in all companies or companies incorporated or to be constituted under whatever form it is industrial commercial financial agricultural movable real estate
”.
In the United States, the company is inactive and has not even paid its registration fees since 2019. How could it finance the hundreds of millions of euros needed to buy its shares?
There again, mystery.
Weakened Atos
Atos therefore has no information on this new declared shareholder. Because declaring itself to the AMF above 5% is a legal obligation, but is only the responsibility of Finsur. The Autorité des marchés financiers does not control these declarations. It could therefore be a nominee or even a false declaration. What in any case deeply disturb the French company of the CAC 40.
Atos has been weakened since the start of the year by a drop in its share price, in particular after the discovery of accounting errors in two of its entities in the United States and the reservations expressed by the auditors. These two subsidiaries represent 11% of Atos' consolidated turnover and 9% of its operating margin. The group has since conducted a complete review of their balance sheets and will provide an update on this issue when presenting its first half results on July 28. But this episode prompted a majority of its shareholders to dismiss the company's consolidated accounts at the last general meeting.
