There are strong signals that the biggest merger in the history of tech - the $67bn merger of Dell and EMC - has been approved by the European Commission
There are growing signs from Europe that the European Commission (EC) has approved the $67bn merger between Dell and EMC.
In recent days, Dell CEO Michael Dell has named executives to lead the combined company.
While there has been no official announcement as of yet by the European Commission, Reuters reported on Monday that the merger had been approved by the Commission.
It said that the Commission had stated that the merged entity would have a moderate market share in external enterprise storage systems and would still face strong competition. In virtualisation software, EMC’s VMware had a strong position, the Commission found, but would have neither the ability nor the incentive to shut out competitors.
This afternoon, Cork MEP Deidre Clune tweeted that the European Commission has approved the acquisition of EMC by Dell.
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of EMC by Dell @siliconrepublic @CorkChamber
— Deirdre Clune (@DeirdreCluneMEP) March 2, 2016
Dell announced the deal to acquire EMC last October, making it the biggest merger in the history of the technology industry worldwide.
Dell appoints new leaders for combined company
Signs that the merger is going ahead at full steam were also given impetus by news that EMC and Dell have selected the executives to lead the new company.
Jeremy Burton, who previously headed the products and marketing division at EMC, has been appointed as the chief marketing officer for the merger, while Karen Quintos, the current CMO at Dell, has been appointed as the chief customer officer for the combined company.
David Goulden will become the merged company’s vice president of the Enterprise Systems Group, which handles storage and servers. Dell’s chief commercial officer Marius Haas will oversee the “global-to-market” activities of the combined firm.
The two firms will form an executive management group that will be made up of leaders from both companies.
How the merger will impact employment at the two companies’ substantial operations in Ireland remains to be seen.
Between them, both companies employ 6,000 people in Ireland. Dell employs around 2,500 workers at sites in Limerick, Cork and Dublin, while EMC employs more than 3,000 people, primarily at its Centre of Excellence in Cork and 50 in Dublin.
Update: 4 March 2016
The European Commission has indeed released a statement confirming that it has approved the Dell/EMC merger having studied the impact of a merged entity on the storage market. It found that the merged entity has a moderate share of the storage market and will continue to face strong competition from established players like NetApp as well as new entrants. It also found that while EMC subsidiary VMware has a strong market position in virtualisation software, the merged business would have neither the ability or incentive to shut out competition.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, stated: “Given the strategic importance of the data storage sector, I am pleased that we have been able to approve Dell’s multi-billion dollar takeover of EMC within a short space of time while making sure that there would be no adverse effects on customers. I appreciate the close cooperation we have enjoyed with our US counterparts at the Federal Trade Commission.”
European Commission image via Shutterstock
