VMware/Broadcom deal spread narrows amid report on China antitrust review
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The VMware/Broadcom deal spread narrowed at least partly amid a report that there may be some progress being made in China's anti-trust review of the $61 billion transaction. The spread narrowed to $40.95 from $42.08 on Wednesday.
China's antitrust regulator hired outside economists to look at the deal, according to traders, who cited a Capitol Forum report that was circulating on Thursday.
Hiring outside economists after talks with industry players at an early stage in the Phase-2 review may be a positive signal for the deal review by China's State Administration for Market Regulation, according to the report. 
The China update comes after Reuters reported on Monday that Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) is expected to win conditional European Union antitrust approval for its acquisition of cloud computing company VMware (NYSE:VMW). Approval is conditioned on Broadcom's interoperability remedies for rivals that address the European Commission's antitrust issues.
The report comes as the deal is also being probed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as well as the UK's antitrust regulator. 
Dealreporter on Friday said that Broadcom (AVGO) is waiting to hear back from the European antitrust regulators on VMWare before responding to the FTC's second request.
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