Financial Times - Two hedge funds besieging Atos Origin, the French computer services group, will support new directors proposed by the board even as they continue to demand the exit of several existing supervisory board members.

Bernard Oppetit, chairman of Centaurus Capital, also said the London hedge fund believed Atos was easing the conditions for it and its New York ally, Pardus Capital, to take board seats.

The two funds together own 22.3 per cent of Atos shares, and are engaged in a battle to eject Didier Cherpitel, chairman, and elect two of their own candidates and three outside directors at next month’s AGM.

The funds will now support the election to the supervisory board of Jean-Francois Cirelli, chief executive of Gaz de France, and René Abate, an executive committee member of Boston Consulting Group.

"We have interviewed them and we have no reason to suspect that they would not be fit for the job so we are giving them the chance," Mr Oppetit said.

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