Seagate wins EU okay for Samsung HD unit buy

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: US-based Seagate Technology won EU regulatory approval to buy Samsung Electronics Co's loss-making hard disk drive unit for $1.4 billion.

Seagate unveiled the acquisition in April as it aimed to boost its market share to 40 per cent, with rival Western Digital Corp and Hitachi Ltd sharing about half the market.

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"Although the merger will further consolidate markets that are already highly concentrated, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in EEA (the European Economic Area) or any substantial part of it," the European Commission, the EU competition watchdog, said in a statement.

The Commission said the Seagate/Samsung deal was assessed independently of Western Digital's proposed acquisition of the hard disk drives and solid state drives businesses of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which was notified one day later and is still pending.