Unique: Adobe open to treatment discussions with EU on Figma deal, chief counsel says

BRUSSELS, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Photoshop maker Adobe (ADBE.O) expects to get an EU antitrust warning on its $20 billion bid for cloud-based designer platform Figma and is open to proposing treatments to resolve regulatory issues, its chief counsel instructed Reuters on Wednesday.

The Adobe deal comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny around the globe on Large Tech acquisitions which increase dominant firms’ market energy or these involving start-ups seen as nascent rivals.

“We predict an announcement of objections from the European Fee,” Dana Rao mentioned in an interview, confirming a Reuters story on Tuesday.

“We’re definitely open to the dialogue of treatments. We completely need this deal to undergo,” he mentioned.

Rao mentioned any potential treatments would rely on the European Fee’s doc which is able to flesh out issues voiced when the EU competitors enforcer opened a full-scale investigation in August. The cost sheet might additionally include new worries or drop different issues.

“However as I mentioned, till we see the assertion of objections and see precisely what the issues are, we will probably be designing an answer with out figuring out what the issue is,” Rao mentioned.

Rao mentioned Adobe doesn’t compete with Figma in any significant method and that the one product related to this query was its design device for internet and cellular functions referred to as Adobe XD, which has misplaced $25 million as a standalone app during the last three years and has solely 5 full-time staff.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.

An agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 20-year veteran at Reuters. Her tales on excessive profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted firms’ shares and helped buyers resolve on their transfer. Her information and expertise of European antitrust legal guidelines and developments helped her broke tales on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, quite a few market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has beforehand reported on Greek politics and corporations, when Greece’s entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the worldwide stage, in addition to Dutch company giants and the quirks of Dutch society and tradition that by no means fail to attraction readers.