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UK antitrust watchdog launches review of IBM’s HashiCorp takeover
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s antitrust watchdog, has opened an investigation into whether IBM’s planned acquisition of cloud software vendor HashiCorp would affect competition in the market. The CMA announced on Monday that it is inviting comment from interested parties by January 16.
According to reports, IBM agreed to buy HashiCorp in April for around $6.4 billion. If the deal goes through, it would significantly expand IBM’s presence in the cloud and AI sectors. Additionally, it would grant the company access to HashiCorp’s extensive customer base of approximately 4,400 clients.
HashiCorp, founded in San Francisco by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar in 2012, specializes in providing tools for managing cloud infrastructure and security. The CMA notified HashiCorp in August that it would begin reviewing the proposed merger. Notably, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also conducting an investigation into the deal.
The CMA has established a provisional deadline of February 25 to decide whether to clear the transaction or refer it for further review.
Source: techcrunch.com
