Broadcom CEO flies to Brussels in effort to push through $61bn VMware deal

The chief executive officer of Broadcom will meet with the European Union’s antitrust enforcers in an attempt to push through its $61 billion acquisition of cloud computing company VMware.

The deal has faced significant opposition from regulators in both the EU and US, with the European Commission last month saying that the merger could restrict competition in the hardware component market – specifically in Network Interface Cards (NICs), Fibre Channel Host-Bus Adapters (FC HBAs) and storage adapters.

Broadcom chief exec Hock Tan arrived in Brussels early on Friday along with a number of executives and lawyers to meet with senior European Commission officials, including its deputy director general for mergers Guillaume Loriot, and representatives from national competition agencies from across the bloc.

The president of VMware, Sumit Dhawan, will also be at the meeting albeit remotely.

Han, Dhawan and their lawyers are expected to argue that the strong presence of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the cloud computing market should serve as proof of strong competition.

Broadcom is also expected to offer a number of remedies following the oral hearing. The EU will extend its June 21 deadline for the decision after the concessions have been submitted.

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