UPDATE 3-Ex French finance minister Breton named Atos CEO

* Ex-French finance minister to be Atos Origin CEO

* Thierry Breton to accelerate transformation plan

* Second shake-up in six months * Shares up as much as 13 pct

(Adds share price, analyst comment)

By Tim Hepher

PARIS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Former French finance minister Thierry Breton parachuted back to corporate life as chief executive of Atos Origin (ATOS.PA) on Monday, abruptly replacing Philippe Germond in what media hailed as a boardroom coup.

Atos Origin, which designed systems for the Beijing Olympics and specialises in secure online payments, said its board had asked Breton to "accelerate the roll-out of its transformation plan, refocus on key businesses and reinforce its market share".

The company's shares rose as much as 13 percent in early trade, valuing it at around 1.3 billion euros ($1.65 billion).

The Financial Times and French business daily Les Echos reported in early Monday editions that the surprise appointment came in a boardroom manoeuvre carried out on Sunday.

It was the second shake-up in six months at the strife-torn company whose chairman was ousted by two hedge funds in June, a move seen as a breakthrough for shareholder activism in France.

Breton was finance minister under former president Jacques Chirac between 2005-07 and previously ran French companies such as Thomson SA (TMS.PA) and France Telecom (FTE.PA).

Germond will leave Atos Origin, the company said, thanking him for "returning the company back to growth". Appointed in October 2007, Germond had steered Atos through months of bitter disagreements.

He clashed with hedge funds Pardus Capital Management and Centaurus Capital, who built up 23 percent of the capital and called for changes in strategy to speed up recovery from losses.

In May, there were rowdy scenes and a shareholder meeting had to be suspended after a staff shareholder group defected to the funds and Germond blocked a vote to seek legal advice.

The stand-off ended two weeks later when chairman Didier Cherpitel agreed to step down and was replaced by Jean-Philippe Thierry, chairman of French insurer AGF (ALVG.DE).

On Monday, Thierry said Breton's appointment would mark a new direction for Atos and its 50,000 staff in 40 countries.