The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved NortonLifeLock’s acquisition of software developer Avast for up to US$8.6 billion, removing the last major obstacle after receiving approval in the US, Spain and Germany.
The regulator, which launched a full investigation into the acquisition earlier this year, found that the merged entities face major competitors from McAfee, as well as a number of other suppliers with lower market shares in the UK.
The CMA also discovered that Microsoft’s security applications, which hold a special position in the market as owners of the Windows operating system, offer consumers extremely important choices.
“In recent years, Microsoft has improved its built-in, bundled security application so that it now offers protection which is as good as many of the products offered by specialist suppliers. In addition, applications recently launched by Microsoft for its customers bring its cyber safety offering closer to those of the merging businesses and are likely to further strengthen Microsoft as a competitor going forward on this basis, the CMA considers that the merging businesses will continue to face sufficient competition after the deal completes and has concluded that the merger does not raise competition concerns,” the CMA said.
Following the Competition and Markets Authority’s decision, NortonLifeLock said it intend to seal the deal this month.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.