Investing.com – International Business Machines’ planned takeover of HashiCorp (NASDAQ:HCP) could be under threat after the UK’s antitrust watchdog said it was considering whether such a deal would affect competition.
The Competition and Markets Authority said on Monday that it was inviting comments from interested parties by Jan. 16. The regulator set a provisional Feb. 25 deadline to decide whether to clear the deal or refer it for a further in-depth investigation.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) said in April that it agreed to buy the cloud-software company HashiCorp in a deal with an enterprise value of $6.4 billion, expanding its cloud-based software products to tap into an AI-powered boom in demand.
Software (ETR:SOWGn) has been a bright spot for IBM as its consulting business grapples with more cautious spending by enterprises navigating higher interest rates.
At 08:35 ET (13:35 GMT), IBM stock fell 0.8% and HashiCorp stock dropped 0.2%.