Qualcomm gave some new assurances to the European Union in an effort to have its proposed $38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors approved, as revealed by a filing to the European Commission from last Thursday, October 5th. The competition watchdog of the European Union was originally meant to rule on Qualcomm’s takeover bid by mid-August but suspended its decision on two occasions, with the last one being on August 17th. The agency previously said that Qualcomm has yet to provide it with all of the necessary data regarding the deal, adding that it won’t rule on the matter until it’s fully informed about the circumstances of the transaction that the San Diego, California-based semiconductor company is trying to complete.
The deal itself is poised to be the largest one ever made in the semiconductor sector and has drawn attention from regulators on the Old Continent. With NXP Semiconductors being incorporated in the Netherlands, Qualcomm needs an official approval from the political bloc before being able to integrate the Eindhoven-based company into its corporate family. It’s currently unclear how likely is the European Commission to approve the deal and the exact contents of the concessions Qualcomm offered to the regulators last week remain unclear. The Commission previously said that its repeatedly suspended decision will be given a new deadline once Qualcomm responds to its extended data request. It’s presently unclear whether Qualcomm’s latest move entailed disclosing additional data on the matter, though that seems like a probable scenario seeing how the company is seemingly left with little choice in the matter if it’s still adamant to conclude the deal.
Apart from extra information on Qualcomm’s proposed deal, the antitrust watchdog of the European Union will also be collecting feedback from Qualcomm’s competitors and clients in the near future. Qualcomm’s reputation in the industry took a hit in recent times following several major antitrust lawsuits filed against it all over the world which possibly prompted the EU to approach the proposal at hand in an extremely careful manner. Opponents of the deal previously raised concerns about Qualcomm possibly using the takeover to eliminate other rivals in the industry and implement new systems for licensing NXP’s patents. The acquisition itself was already approved by the Federal Trade Commission in the United States this spring but it remains to be seen how long will competition authorities in Europe take before making a final ruling on the matter, having originally started their investigation in early June.