PARIS: The French government will keep a close eye over the impact on jobs and technology from French tech consulting firm Atos' proposed takeover of Gemalto, the finance minister said on Wednesday.
Atos offered to buy Gemalto for 4.3 billion euros ($5.06 billion) on Monday to boost its cyber security business and tap into soaring demand for such services in the face of a growing number of attacks on the Internet worldwide.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that while it was up to Gemalto's board to decide on the offer, the government had concerns.
"The first thing is that jobs in the sector are kept in France ... the second thing we must watch is investment and innovation," Le Maire said during a questions and answer session in the lower house of parliament.
"The third thing that the state will be particularly vigilant about is that French sovereignty is kept over advanced technology," he added.
Atos, headquartered in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, has 100,000 employees in 72 countries, including at least 12,000 in France. Amsterdam-headquartered Gemalto has 15,000 employees.
The French government is one of Gemalto's biggest shareholder through public investment bank Bpifrance, which holds an 8.4 percent stake and has said that it is in favour of the deal.
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