EU to fully investigate Broadcom's $61 billion acquisition of VMware

CTOnews.com, December 10 (Reuters)-US chipmaker Broadcom's $61 billion acquisition of VMware will face a test, and EU antitrust regulators are ready to launch a full investigation.

CTOnews.com learned that the acquisition, the world's second-largest so far this year, underscores Broadcom's determination to diversify its business, but unfortunately this year comes at a time of intense scrutiny by global regulators.

Broadcom has been pinning its hopes on early approval of the deal by the European Union, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Earlier this week, the company also held a so-called status meeting with European Commission officials, who took the opportunity to express their concerns.

If the company fails to convince EU regulators of the benefits of the acquisition, they will launch a full four-month investigation after a preliminary review of the deal.

The EU competition enforcement agency, which is scheduled to complete the preliminary review on December 20, declined to comment, while Broadcom said it expected the review process in other key regions to be extended because of the size of the deal. "having said that, we still believe that the deal can be completed by the end of fiscal year 2023."