China’s market regulator said it still hoped to find a solution to antitrust concerns that doomed Qualcomm’s $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors.
China’s market regulator said it still hoped to find a solution to antitrust concerns that doomed Qualcomm’s $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors, after finding that proposals to address the issue had fallen short.
U. S.-based Qualcomm abandoned on Thursday what would have been the world’s biggest ever semiconductor sector takeover after a deadline the companies set passed without the deal winning China’s approval.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a statement on Friday that proposals put forth by the firms to resolve Chinese antitrust concerns were insufficient, but it hoped to continue communicating with Qualcomm.
The Chinese move likely comes too late for a resurrection of the deal, which had become embroiled in a political spat between Washington and Beijing. With the deal called off, the two companies have announced major share buybacks and Qualcomm has already paid NXP a $2 billion break fee.
«Coming a day after the deadline, my guess is the SAMR statement is meant to counter perceptions the deal approval process was politicized, not to revive it,» said Andrew Gilholm, director of analysis for China and North Asia at consultancy Control Risks.
«Of course, this conflicts with the view among many people following the deal that the U. S.-China situation had become the main obstacle, not the competition implications.
