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.
The CMA said on Monday it was inviting comments on the merger from interested parties until January 16. The regulator set an interim deadline of February 25 to decide whether to clear the deal or refer it for further review.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, IBM announced it agreed to buy HashiCorp in April for about $6.4 billion. The acquisition, if it goes ahead, would expand IBM’s push into cloud and AI and give the company access to HashiCorp’s roster of about 4,400 clients.
San Francisco-based HashiCorp, founded in 2012 by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar, provides tools to help manage cloud infrastructure and security.
The CMA notified HashiCorp in August that it would consider the merger. The US Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the deal.
