Seagate finally gets approval to integrate Samsung HDD business

Acquisitions can sometimes take a very long time, as evidenced by this snip of news which indicates Seagate has finally been given the go-ahead from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to integrate the Samsung HDD business it bought back in April 2011.

The deal is worth $1.375 billion and is split 50/50 in cash and stock, leaving Samsung with a roughly 10 percent ownership in Seagate. Additionally, the deal also gives Seagate preferential status for the supply of Samsung's NAND flash chips.

The deal, however, required a number of regulatory approvals - and Seagate has only now, four years after the agreement was signed, received approval from China's MOFCOM. In its ruling, the ministry confirmed that it would relax the 'hold separate' restrictions which had previous compelled the company to operate Samsung's hard drive division as a separate subsidiary. The removal of this restriction allows Seagate to begin merging Samsung's hard drive business into its own, though there are still two requirements outstanding: Seagate must not force customers into exclusivity by preventing them from buying products from other vendors, and it must not use its mighty purchasing power to compel TDK China to sell its mechanical hard drive heads to the company exclusively, locking rivals out of the supply chain.

Source: Bit Tech