BRUSSELS, July 25 (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard won permission from European Union competition regulators on Friday to buy technology outsourcing company Electronic Data Systems Corp for $12.6 billion.
The deal is aimed at helping HP compete better against IBM in the global technology services industry, and vaults HP to second place behind IBM. EDS is a pioneer of the outsourcing of managed computer services.
“The Commission concluded that the concentration is unlikely to raise competition concerns,” said a statement from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.
The deal won approval from U.S. government antitrust authorities on June 30.
(Writing by David Lawsky, editing by Darren Ennis)
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