The European Commission has approve Seagate Technology ’s acquistion of the hard disk private road ( HDD ) business of Samsung Electronics , after conclude that there will still be enough players in the market after the leverage .
Seagate said in April that it was evolve the HDD patronage of Samsung Electronics for $ 1.4 billion in stock and hard currency , a calendar month after challenger Western Digital say it would buy Hitachi Global Storage Technologies , the hard drive unit of Hitachi , for $ 4.3 billion in cash and livestock .
After the acquisition , Samsung will have about 9.6 percent possession of Seagate , the companies said in April .
The EC opened in May separate investigating under the EU Merger Regulation into the two dealings . Seagate notified the commission of the proposed skill on April 19 , a day earlier than Western Digital .
In panorama of a priority prescript based on the date of notification , the committee assessed the Seagate - Samsung transaction on the basis of the market situation exist before the notification of the Western Digital - Hitachi dealing which is still pending .
In 2010 , HDD shipment from both Seagate and Samsung added to 261.2 million unit , giving the combined companies 40 pct of the HDD grocery , IHS iSuppli psychoanalyst Fang Zhang said in Mayin a blogpost . Western Digital and Hitachi GST still held the number one posture with a 50 percent share .
The primary impact of the Seagate - Samsung transaction would be on the markets for 3.5 - inch desktop hard record drives and 2.5 - inch nomadic hard platter drives where the investigation revealed that Samsung is not a particularly hard competitor , the commission said in a affirmation .
Three strong provider would remain in the 3.5 - in desktop securities industry , including the merged entity , Western Digital and Hitachi GST , the mission said . The 2.5 - inch Mobile River market would have these three players and Toshiba .
“ With at least three suppliers , client will retain sufficient possibilities to swop suppliers , ” the perpetration said .
The commission also base that the removal of Samsung is not potential to lead to the risk of coordination among the remaining HDD provider , and that the aim learning will also not sham the HDD head job of Japan ’s TDK , as the incorporate entity will continue to buy a sufficient volume of portion from TDK C. W. Post - uniting .
Western Digital said in May it was informed by the EC that the reappraisal of its proposed acquisition had enter a 2nd phase .
The propose acquisition , which is open to several closure conditions , including the reception of antimonopoly approvals in certain legal power , is now require to close in the quaternary calendar quarter of 2011 , Western Digital say . The company had before said the attainment would close in the third quarter .
