FTC review of Broadcom's VMWare deal said focused on conglomerate effects
Justin Sullivan


The Federal Trade Commission review of Broadcom's (NASDAQ:AVGO) $61 billion planned acquisition of VMWare (NYSE:VMW) is said focused on conglomerate effects of the combination.
The antitrust authority is looking at conglomerate effects as there don't appear to any horizontal overlaps besides Endpoint Security and there are no vertical concerns, according to a Dealreporter item on Tuesday, citing sources familiar. The companies are still responding to the FTC request for more information from July.

Separately, Dealreporter said Broadcom (AVGO) is attending a state of play meeting with the European Commission this week to discuss the transaction. The EC deadline for its review is Dec. 20.

Last month the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, said it was looking into the deal to see if it could result in a "substantial lessening of competition." The CMA invitation to comment on the deal was scheduled to end today.
In May, Broadcom (AVGO) announced that it was acquiring VMware (VMW) for $61B in cash and stock.