Adobe Inc.’s $20 billion buyout of Figma Inc., a smaller maker of cloud-based design software, risks being derailed by European Union merger watchdogs unless the firms fix a list of competition concerns highlighted by the bloc’s antitrust arm.
The European Commission issued a so-called statement of objections on Friday, highlighting how Adobe’s largest deal ever could imperil fair competition in the market for interactive product design tools.
The filing — increasingly common in complex merger transactions — called upon the firms to remedy the concerns. Failure to do so could mean that Adobe’s record acquisition faces the same fate as Booking Holdings Inc.’s €1.6 billion ($1.74 billion) deal for Sweden’s Etraveli Group, which was blocked by the EU in September.
“We remain confident in the merits of our case, as Figma’s product design is an adjacency to Adobe’s core creative products and Adobe has no meaningful plans to compete in the product design space,” said spokesperson for Adobe.
“We feel confident in our ability to resolve regulators’ concerns and will continue to engage in constructive conversations focused on the benefits this deal will create for consumers and Europe’s innovation economy,” said spokesperson for Figma.
The EU’s competition department said in a statement that the deal could significantly reduce competition in the global markets for interactive product design tools and in the supply of vector and raster editing tools. The Brussels-based watchdog has a deadline of Feb. 5 to issue a final decision on Adobe’s planned merger.
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The proposed purchase by Adobe, of San Jose, California, is seen as a massive bet that more creative work will be done by small businesses and everyday users on the web, a market that privately owned Figma has rapidly seized. While Adobe has introduced less expensive, streamlined products for that audience, most of its offerings are still heavyweight programs aimed at specialists.
EU merger watchdogs have been examining Adobe’s bid for Figma since August, when they announced an “in-depth” investigation. Since then, the bloc has quizzed rivals and regulators on a range of issues, including how the company could lever its market power to slash the price of Figma’s products or bundle them with its own Creative Cloud offering.
EU regulators have also targeted Figma’s use of developer tools in its design software offering, as well as Adobe’s use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology in product design tools.
It’s not just the EU that could be a roadblock to the deal. The transaction is also being vetted by the UK’s competition watchdog and the US Department of Justice, with a recent record of taking a tough stance on tech deals, such as Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc.
(Updates with comments from Adobe and Figma)
