News
Companies reportedly failed to provide relevant information to antitrust watchdog.
The European Commission this week suspended its investigation into Qualcomm’s proposed $47 billion acquisition of rival chipmaker NXP.
Reuters reported on Thursday that, according to the EC, the companies failed to submit relevant information to the antitrust watchdog.
"Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is re-started and the deadline for the Commission’s decision is then adjusted accordingly," the EC said, in the report.
The EC opened an in-depth probe into the deal earlier in June, expressing concern that the tie-up could limit competition in the baseband and near-field communications chip markets, as well as the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) market.
The Commission is also concerned that Qualcomm would have the means and incentive to exclude rivals and charge higher royalties by modifying NXP’s patent-licensing practices.
Qualcomm struck a $110 per-share deal for NXP in October 2016. NXP became the world’s biggest supplier of semiconductors to the automotive industry following its $11.8 billion acquisition of Freescale.
The EC probe is not the only hurdle the deal faces.
According to a Bloomberg report in late May, certain NXP investors are pressuring the company to get a higher offer out of Qualcomm.
Qualcomm has also had to extend the deadline for its tender offer for all outstanding NXP shares multiple times.
On 2 May, the deadline was pushed back to 31 May. Qualcomm said at the time that 14.9% of outstanding NXP shares had been tendered. On Wednesday, Qualcomm extended the deadline again, this time until 27 July. The company revealed that the percentage of outstanding NXP shares tendered has fallen to 12.5%.
