由于这笔全美交易可能引发竞争担忧，英国反垄断监管机构将对 Synopsys Inc. 斥资 340 亿美元收购软件开发商 Ansys Inc. 一事展开调查。
英国竞争和市场管理局周五表示，已对此次收购展开正式的“第一阶段”合并调查，并确定于 12 月 20 日决定是否将其升级为深入调查。
Synopsys 总部位于加利福尼亚州桑尼维尔，生产用于设计半导体的软件，而 Ansys 则生产模拟软件，供工程师用来预测产品在现实世界中的工作方式。此次收购于 1 月宣布，旨在扩大 Synopsys 的客户群及其产品套件。两家公司在公告中表示，总部位于宾夕法尼亚州坎农斯堡的 Ansys 的股东将获得每股 197 美元现金和 0.345 股 Synopsys 股票。
Synopsys 发言人表示：“我们仍然对正在进行的监管审查程序的积极解决充满信心，我们仍然预计交易将在 2025 年上半年完成。”
近年来，CMA 加强了对科技行业的审查，密切关注从人工智能到云计算和芯片的并购。其新的数字市场权力将于今年晚些时候生效，这将使该机构有更大的空间来监控大型科技公司。
英文原文：
Synopsys Inc.’s $34 billion takeover of software developer Ansys Inc. will be investigated by the UK’s antitrust watchdog amid potential competition concerns over the all-American deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority said Friday it had opened a formal “phase one” merger probe into the acquisition and set a Dec 20. date to decide whether to escalate it to an in-depth probe.
Synopsys, based in Sunnyvale, California, makes software used to design semiconductors, while Ansys makes simulation software used by engineers to help predict how products will work in the real world. The purchase, which was announced in January, is aimed at expanding Synopsys’ customer base and its suite of products. In the announcement, the firms said that shareholders of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Ansys will receive $197 in cash and 0.345 shares of Synopsys stock per share.
“We remain confident in a positive resolution of the ongoing regulatory review processes, and we continue to expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2025,” a Synopsys spokesperson said.
The CMA has stepped up its scrutiny of the tech sector in recent years, taking a closer look at mergers from AI to cloud and chips. Its new digital markets powers, which will give the agency more scope to monitor big tech firms, will come into force later this year.
