Broadcom offers VMware remedies to address EU concerns -sources

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -U.S. chipmaker Broadcom (NASDAQ:) has offered interoperability remedies in an effort to address European Union antitrust concerns over its $61 billion VMware (NYSE:) bid, people familiar with the matter said.

Broadcom submitted its proposal on Tuesday, a European Commission filing showed. The EU competition enforcer, which did not provide details in line with its policy, extended its deadline for a decision to July 17.

Broadcom may restrict competition in some hardware components which interoperate with VMware’s virtualisation software, the Commission warned the company last month as it laid out its concerns.

Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan had been in Brussels earlier this month to try and convince EU antitrust enforcers that the company’s bid for cloud computing company VMware – one of the biggest tie-ups in the history of the tech sector – was beneficial to competition in the sector.

The company has hoped regulators would consider the presence of Amazon (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Google (NASDAQ:) in the cloud computing market as proof of strong competition, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters last year.

On Wednesday, Broadcom reiterated its aim of closing the VMware transaction in the 2023 fiscal year, and added it was making progress with various regulatory filings regarding this deal around the world.

“While we maintain that this deal does not present any competition issues, we have made a proposal to address fully the concerns expressed by the European Commission,” said Broadcom.

“The combination of Broadcom and VMware is about enabling enterprises to accelerate innovation and expand choice by addressing their most complex technology challenges in this multi-cloud era, and we are confident that regulators will see this when they conclude their review,” it added in a statement.