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Mergers and Acquistions News

Categories: Hardware

November 23rd 2011, 15:44PM

Approval has been granted by the European Union (EU) for Western Digital's acquisition of the hard disk operations of Hitachi.

The California-based hard drive firm - which was founded in 1970 and now employs approximately 62,000 people across the world - struck up an agreement worth some $4.3 billion (£2.7 billion) to purchase this part of the Japanese company.

The deal was first announced earlier this year but could not be completed after the EU raised concerns about the potentially negative impact this would have on competition in this part of the technology sector.

However, these fears have now been allayed after Western Digital agreed to sell several essential production assets for the manufacture of 3.5-inch hard disk drives, meaning the acquisition can now go through.

Joaquin Almunia, competition commissioner at the EU, observed: "The proposed divestiture will ensure that competition in the industry is fully restored before the merger is implemented."  ADNFCR-1833-ID-801219360-ADNFCR

 

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