The cyber stability division of France’s Atos is ‘not up for sale’, a spokesperson for the IT consulting agency stated on Thursday, immediately after resources reported defence business Thales was performing on a possible provide.

Resources explained to Reuters on Wednesday that French enterprise Thales was doing work on a prepare to obtain the cybersecurity business of IT consultancy group Atos, in a probable US$3 billion (A$4.2 billion) tie-up probable to check the political dedication for shoring up France’s electronic defences.

Atos shares jumped by a lot more than 10 percent on the information. They were being down by 2.1 % at 7:30pm AEDT.

“BDS is not for sale,” Atos’ spokesperson explained. “We are targeted on our turnaround prepare and we are convinced of the appreciable turnaround likely of the group.”

Thales, which ranks as Europe’s most significant defence electronics business, and its adviser Centerview Companions have approached several private equity companies such as Bain Money to explore a achievable joint offer as section of a offer that would contain a sophisticated crack-up of Atos, the sources claimed.

Thales reported soon after marketplace near on Wednesday that it was “possibly interested” in any cybersecurity asset up for sale and that there were being no talks underway with Atos.