Broadcom offered remedies to address EU antitrust concerns over VMware deal -sources (updated)

VMware

17/05/2023 12:08

(Adds detail and comment from Broadcom)
    By Foo Yun Chee
       BRUSSELS, May 17 (Reuters) - Broadcom  AVGO.O  has
offered interoperability remedies in an attempt to address EU
antitrust concerns about its $61 billion bid for VMware  VMW.N ,
people familiar with the matter said.
    Broadcom submitted its proposal on Tuesday, a European
Commission filing showed on Wednesday. The EU competition
enforcer, which did not provide details in line with its policy,
extended its deadline for a decision to July 17.
    Broadcom chief executive Hock Tan had been in Brussels
earlier this month to try and convince EU antitrust enforcers
that the company's bid for cloud computing company VMware - one
of the biggest tie-ups in the history of the tech sector - was
beneficial to competition in the sector.
        The company has hoped regulators would consider the
presence of Amazon  AMZN.O , Microsoft  MSFT.O  and Google
 GOOGL.O  in the cloud computing market as proof of strong
competition, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters
last year.
  
        On Wednesday, Broadcom reiterated its aim of closing the
VMware transaction in the 2023 fiscal year, and added it was
making progress with various regulatory filings regarding this
deal around the world.
  
        "While we maintain that this deal does not present any
competition issues, we have made a proposal to address fully the
concerns expressed by the European Commission," said Broadcom.
  
        "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 review," it added in a statement.
  

 (Reporting by Yun Chee;
Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Louise Heavens)
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))