The offer of Atos Origin WorldPay should remain on the sidelines. The group has never officially confirmed his candidacy on redemption of the subsidiary systems of payment by Royal Bank of Scotland, is not among the three investment funds selected by the British bank, according to information from newspaper economy.

The software houses had yet been joint bid with investment firms CVC Capital Partners and Welch, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. In addition, the acquisition of Wordpay assessed by the press between 2 and 2.5 billion euros, would have Atos create synergies with its electronic payments Worldline subsidiary.

The list of contenders is long

But the list of contenders is long.Investment funds Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Permira (associated with American Express), Advent International, Bain Capital and TPG or Canadian society Moneris Solutions payment systems had expressed interest in WorldPay. The price of the subsidiary of RBS has thus vanished, the paper suggests a proposal exceeds 4 billion euros, and the bids were the highest preference.

Another obstacle to the acquisition of Atos WordPay, SSII debt still stood at 139 million euros at end 2009. This impedes the French group to compete with investment funds. Especially that Thierry Breton, arrived at the head of the group November 16, 2008, has always said he was not overpaying for an acquisition issue.

An alliance with a fund is still possible

For now, the group opted for prudence.But he could return to the race if one of the three funds withheld wanted an alliance with an industrial partner, an option that remains open as the business daily.

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