Brooke Sutherland, Columnist

Broadcom's Crafty M&A Tactics Deserve Scrutiny

Its plan to avoid national-security regulators by reincorporating in the U.S. ahead of a Qualcomm deal sets an unwelcome precedent.

March 5, 2018 at 2:12 PM UTC

By Brooke Sutherland

Brooke Sutherland is Bloomberg News' Boston bureau chief and writes the Industrial Strength Newsletter. She was previously a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies and an M&A reporter for Bloomberg News.

1520259372_319957247_1-7 (1) — Photographer: Martin H. Simon/Bloomberg

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Broadcom Ltd. may not like it, but a national security review of its bid for Qualcomm Inc. was likely necessary to guard against copycat tactics.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ordered Qualcomm to postpone its annual shareholder meeting for 30 days so that it can investigate Broadcom's $100 billion takeover bid for the chipmaker. In a statement on Monday, Broadcom said Qualcomm "secretly" filed a voluntary request with CFIUS in a "blatant, desperate act" to protect its board from the upcoming proxy fight.