By Ian Walker


The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that it has begun a review into chip maker Broadcom Inc.'s planned $61 billion acquisition of VMware Inc. and has set a deadline of March 22 for its initial decision.

The regulator said that it is looking to see if the deal will lead to a "substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the U.K. for goods or services."

On Dec. 20 the European Union's antitrust watchdog said it would open an investigation into the deal as it believed it would allow Broadcom to restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components.

The commission will have until May to make a decision on the merger.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also been seeking information about the deal from the companies, citing a previous regulatory filing.

Broadcom said in December that it looked forward to continuing to work with European regulators as part of their review process.


Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-25-23 0628ET