UK anti-trust authorities have confirmed that IBM is planning on a planned multi-billion dollar infrastructure software company Hashicorp.
In a brief case update released today, the Competitive Markets Agency (CMA) said it had “cleared the expected acquisition of Hasicorp by IBM,” and said it would release the full basis for that decision.
The announcement comes about 10 months after IBM first revealed that it was administering $6.4 billion for Hasiccorp as it called for a deeper intrusion into the hybrid cloud realm.
IBM had indicated that it was expecting Hasicorp’s transactions to be closed by the end of 2024, but in cases of such significant transactions, particularly those involving two public companies, it is always regulated. It could have attracted scrutiny. So in December, the CMA launched an early “Phase 1” investigation, attracting comments from key stakeholders.
It was never certain that we would proceed to a full-scale investigation, but it is worth noting that the UK is pushing for portraying itself as a pro-growing country with its recent protection. This means a change in the CMA.
Last month, the government appointed a new CMA chair in the form of former Amazon executive Doug Girl. .
Today’s decision is in line with these changes. The UK wants to know that the world doesn’t want to be a barrier to business.
“The UK government has recently shown that the CMA wants to pay more attention to intervening in international transactions that have no special UK issues,” said the London-based law firm. said Tom Smith, a partner at Geradin Partners and former legal director at CMA. TechCrunch. “However, we cannot know if the outcome in this case was different without that signal.”
However, the transaction has not continued yet. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also considering the deal, but at the time of writing it has not yet made a formal announcement.
IBM declined to comment when contacted by TechCrunch.
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