By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Broadcom on Friday will try to convince EU antitrust enforcers that its proposed $61 billion bid for cloud computing company VMware, which has triggered regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, is pro-competitive.
The company will present its arguments to senior European Commission officials and their counterparts from national competition agencies as well as lawyers from the EU executive at a closed hearing.
Broadcom’s request for the hearing came after the Commission last month warned the deal may restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components which interoperate with VMware’s software.
The company had hoped that regulators would consider the presence of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the cloud computing market as proof of strong competition, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters last year.
Broadcom is expected to offer remedies in the coming days after the oral hearing. The EU deadline for a decision is June 21 which will be extended once concessions are submitted.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Gregorio)
