The annals of the trade war between the US and China can count a deal between Qualcomm and NXP as its latest victim. American company Qualcomm and Dutch tech corporation NXP have been in talks, with the latter up to acquire up to $30 billion of stocks from the Dutch company, to be distributed among its stockholders.
However, CNN Money reports that the deal failed to make any headway. This is due to China simply not approving the deal, letting time run out as the deadline for the buyout passed. The deal had already been approved by eight other jurisdictions-the European Union and South Korea, among the countries, were particularly approving of the buyout.
China, through Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng, did not answer questions why it decided to veto the deal by failing to vote. Instead, he redirected the reporters to ask financial regulators about China's decision. He did, however, clear things up that the decision wasn't made as a retaliatory response to the trade dispute, even if Qualcomm is an American company.
Reuters said that China, however, is still hopeful of Qualcomm making the deal work. $44 billion is no joke; the deal was vetoed because of concerns that it was breaching anti-trust laws, and they did not let the deal go through until these anti-trust laws were cleared one way or another.
The State Administration for Market Regulation-China's financial regulator-tried clearing up concerns, revealing that the firms involved did not do enough to dispel anti-trust issues. However, China said that it still hopes Qualcomm would continue to communicate to try and find a solution to the problem.
That may be all for nothing, however, as the deal appears to have been called off. It might even be listed down as an unfortunate victim of the Washington-Beijing trade dispute. Qualcomm had since already paid a break free worth $2 billion to NXP and has also announced investors were lining up to buy back shares.
The issue is more complicated than it already is. The Trump administration last made news when it blocked Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm, saying it could help China in the long run. This was also before Trump issued a ban on ZTE's importation of parts from American companies.
