The UK’s antitrust watchdog has provisionally cleared PayPal’s US$2.2 billion takeover of Swedish start-up iZettle after an in-depth probe, reported the Financial Times.
The Competition & Markets Authority had been concerned over the overlap between the two companies, which both make mobile point of sale devices enabling businesses to take “offline” payments through a card reader which can be plugged into tablets or smartphones.
It had referred the deal to a Phase 2 investigation last December after PayPal failed to offer what it termed “acceptable ways” to address its concerns.
Kirstin Baker, who chaired the inquiry, said it had been “particularly important… to verify in detail what could have happened had iZettle not been taken over” given iZettle is a “relatively recent entrant to payment services, and PayPal had pre-existing plans to invest in its product offering.”
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
