Broadcom Gets Conditional Nod From European Commission To Buy VMware

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), a semiconductor and software solutions provider, said on Wednesday that it has received conditional approval from the European Commission or EC to close its proposed acquisition of VMware, Inc. (VMW), an innovator in enterprise software.

Broadcom now expects the transaction to conclude in its fiscal 2023.

Earlier, the EC’s in-depth probe had confirmed that the transaction could harm the competition in the worldwide market for the supply of FC HBAs with an ability to foreclose Marvell, the only rival in the market for the supply of FC HBAs.

To address the concern raised by the EC, Broadcom offered a comprehensive access and interoperability commitments to Marvell and any potential future entrant.

This includes a guaranteed access to the interoperability Application Programming Interfaces as well as to the materials, tools, and technical support necessary for the development and certification of third-party FC HBAs.

The company also assured access to the source code for all of Broadcom’s current and future FC HBA drivers through an irrevocable open source license.

In addition, Broadcom said that it is committed to implement an organizational separation between the team working on Broadcom’s FC HBAs and the team in charge of third-party certification and technical support.

The company has already obtained merger clearance in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and Taiwan.

On May 26, 2022, Broadcom had announced a deal to acquire VMware for around $61 billion cash and share. In addition, it will assume $8 billion of VMware net debt.

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