EU Approves HP Buy of Mercury

The European Commission Friday approved Hewlett-Packard’s (HP’s) $4.5 billion acquisition of fellow U.S. software company Mercury Interactive, concluding that the proposed deal would not significantly impede competition.

The companies’ activities overlap in the area of performance management software, a category of software used to quantify the actual performance of applications once they have gone live with users.

But in a statement, the commission—the European Union’s executive and regulatory body—said that adverse effects on competition are unlikely to arise.

The commission had investigated whether the proposed operation could drive competitors out of the market, either because of a bundling of Mercury and HP products, or because other performance management software vendors would be denied access to timely information about HP software.

The commission concluded that the presence of strong competitors in each market would most likely render such strategies unsustainable.

-Paul Meller, IDG News Service (Brussels Bureau)

Related Links:

• HP Extends Mercury Offer for 3rd Time

• HP Extends Deadline for Mercury Acquisition

• HP Spying Scandal

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