Broadcom, VMware merger under scrutiny by British regulator over competition concerns
Justin Sullivan


Broadcom's (NASDAQ:AVGO) $61B pact to acquire VMWare (NYSE:VMW) is now under scrutiny in Britain, as the country's antitrust regulator said it was looking into the deal to see if it could result in a "substantial lessening of competition."

England's Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, said on Monday that it was looking for comments from "interested parties" to help determine whether it should launch a formal investigation into the deal between the semiconductor giant and the cloud computing firm.
The CMA added that the invitation to comment on the deal ends on December 6.
Both Broadcom (AVGO) and VMware (VMW) saw fractional moves in early trading on Monday.
In May, Broadcom (AVGO) announced its intentions to acquire VMware (VMW) with the intent to transform the company from overly relying on semiconductors and more on software and services.
Approximately a month ago, Broadcom (AVGO) reportedly pressed the European Union for early approval of the deal.