Broadcom's Planned $61 Billion Acquisition of VMware to Get Further Probe by UK Regulator — Update

By Ian Walker

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that it will now refer Broadcom Inc.'s planned $61 billion acquisition of VMware Inc for a further review after being notified that Broadcom won't be offering any undertakings to satisfy its concerns over the deal.

The regulator--which started its initial review into the deal in January--said the deal could lead to a substantial lessening of competition within the U.K. and invited the companies to offer undertakings to address its concerns. They were given a deadline of March 29 to offer undertakings.

It said Wednesday that the acquirer informed the CMA on March 22 that it wouldn't be offering any undertakings.

The deal will now be referred for a further in-depth review.

Broadcom said Wednesday that it didn't have any further statement on the ruling beyond that issued last week.

On March 22 Broadcom said that it was working constructively with the CMA as it continues its standard merger review process and was confident of addressing any concerns.

"We will demonstrate that the transaction enhances competition and benefits businesses and consumers through increased quality, innovation and choice," Broadcom said in an emailed statement to Dow Jones.

"The combination of Broadcom and VMware is about enabling enterprises to accelerate innovation and expand choice by addressing their most complex technology challenges in this multi-cloud era, and we are confident that regulators will see this when they conclude their inquiry," it said.

On Dec. 20 the European Union's antitrust watchdog said it would open an investigation into the deal as it believed it would allow Broadcom to restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also been seeking information about the deal from the companies, citing a previous regulatory filing.

Broadcom said in December that it looked forward to continuing to work with European regulators as part of their review process.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 29, 2023 07:18 ET (11:18 GMT)

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