BRUSSELS - European Union antitrust regulators will decide by Feb. 29 whether to nod through U.S. computer maker Dell Inc's $67-billion (47.16 billion pound) bid for data storage company EMC Corp (N:EMC) or open a full-scale investigation.
The deal would enable world No. 3 computer maker Dell to better compete with rivals Cisco Systems Inc (O:CSCO), IBM (N:IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (N:HPQ) in managing and storing corporate data on the cloud.
Dell sought EU approval on Monday, according to a filing on the European Commission website. The EU competition watchdog can either clear the deal with or without conditions in the preliminary review or launch a five-month investigation if it has serious doubts.