Broadcom’s proposed $61B VMware acquisition scrutinized by UK regulators • TechCrunch

The U.Ok.’s Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) has initiated a so-called “section 1” investigation into Broadcom’s proposed $61 billion deal to purchase virtualization software program big VMware.

The information comes shortly after information emerged that the European Fee (EC) was additionally continuing with an investigation into what can be one of many greatest tech acquisitions of all time. Within the corporations’ home U.S. market, in the meantime, the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) final month progressed its investigation right into a deeper second assessment section, which signifies that the FTC noticed sufficient throughout its preliminary evaluation to warrant a extra in depth look.

The crux of the deal is chip big Broadcom looking for to diversify by increasing deeper into the enterprise infrastructure software program fray. Whereas VMware’s shareholders greenlighted the proposal a few weeks again, a deal of this dimension was all the time going to garner regulatory scrutiny, so there may be little shock that we’re seeing a number of authorities look into the deal. Broadcom had beforehand said that it hoped to shut the deal by October, 2023, so it was conscious that this was going to be an extended journey.

Broadcom had a earlier mega-deal scuppered again in 2018, when its plans to accumulate rival Qualcomm for $130 billion was in the end ditched following intervention by President Trump citing nationwide safety grounds. Each the political and aggressive optics are completely different this time round, so it’s troublesome to foretell how this can all unfold, however the U.Ok.’s CMA has now opened up two-week session interval the place it’s inviting feedback from “ events.”

The findings from this can decide what occurs subsequent, and if the CMA considers that this acquisition will “lead to a considerable lessening of competitors” inside any U.Ok. markets, it might pursue additional motion.