Broadcom, VMware merger under scrutiny by British regulator over competition concerns
Justin Sullivan
- Broadcom's (NASDAQ:AVGO) $61B pact to acquire VMWare (NYSE:VMW) is now under scrutiny in Britain, as the country's antitrust regulator said it was looking into the deal to see if it could result in a "substantial lessening of competition."
- England's Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, said on Monday that it was looking for comments from "interested parties" to help determine whether it should launch a formal investigation into the deal between the semiconductor giant and the cloud computing firm.
- The CMA added that the invitation to comment on the deal ends on December 6.
- Both Broadcom (AVGO) and VMware (VMW) saw fractional moves in early trading on Monday.
- In May, Broadcom (AVGO) announced its intentions to acquire VMware (VMW) with the intent to transform the company from overly relying on semiconductors and more on software and services.
- Approximately a month ago, Broadcom (AVGO) reportedly pressed the European Union for early approval of the deal.