The EU Commission opens an in-depth investigation into the acquisition of a software provider by a hardware manufacturer over fears that permitting the merger would lead to reduced interoperability and the foreclosure of rivals (VMware / Broadcom)

Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition of VMware by Broadcom* The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of VMware by Broadcom. The Commission is particularly concerned that the transaction would allow Broadcom to restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components which interoperate with VMware's software. Broadcom is a hardware company that offers, among other products, Network Interface Cards (‘NICs'), Fibre Channel Host-Bus Adapters (‘FC HBAs') and storage adapters. Broadcom recently started expanding into software markets. VMware is a software provider offering mainly virtualisation software which interoperates with a wide range of hardware,