Broadcom's acquisition of VMware gets provisional clearance in UK
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Editor's note: The article has been updated with Broadcom's statement.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally cleared Broadcom's (NASDAQ:AVGO) proposed acquisition of VMware (NYSE:VMW).
The CMA said that the Broadcom/VMware deal is valued at $69B, consisting of $61B of equity and the assumption of $8B of debt, making it the largest acquisition to be investigated by the CMA.
An independent CMA panel provisionally found that the deal would not substantially reduce competition in the supply of server hardware components in the UK.
The CMA said that the potential financial benefit to Broadcom and VMware of making rival products work less well with VMware's software would not outweigh the potential financial cost in terms of lost business.
The panel also noted that the deal is not likely to harm innovation, in particular since information about new product adaptations only needs to be shared with VMware at a stage when it is too late to be of commercial benefit to Broadcom.
"After carefully considering a broad range of evidence, we have provisionally found that this deal would not harm competition," said Richard Feasey, chair of the independent inquiry panel.
Broadcom's said in a statement that it welcomed CMA's provisional decision to clear unconditionally its proposed acquisition of VMware.
"We have always believed that our proposed acquisition will enable enterprises to accelerate innovation and expand choice by addressing their most complex technology challenges in this multi-cloud era," the company added.
Broadcom noted that it has received legal merger clearance in the EU, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, South Africa and Taiwan, and foreign investment control clearance in all necessary jurisdictions. The company expects the transaction to close in Broadcom's fiscal year 2023.
Last week, the European Commission (EC) granted conditional approval to the acquisition, following certain commitments by Broadcom.
The findings are provisional, and the CMA has invited interested parties to make representations by Aug. 9 and a final report is expected by Sept. 12.
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