The European Commission is looking into IBM Corp.’s bid to buy Sweden’s Telelogic AB, which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine.
Regulators fear the deal could give IBM too much power in the European software market, according to an Associated Press report.
The EU has set a Feb. 20 deadline by which to reject or approve the deal.
In June, IBM announced plans to buy Telelogic for $750 million.
Telelogic makes software that helps businesses speed up their own product and software development.
The company’s Telelogic North America Inc. unit is based in the Irvine Spectrum, where it has about 85 workers.
The company has yearly sales of about $200 million. The Irvine office makes up more than half of Telelogic’s sales.
Customers include Boeing Co., General Motors Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corp.
IBM already has about 2,000 workers in Orange County, a figure that nearly doubled with last year’s $1.5 billion buy of Costa Mesa business software maker FileNet Corp.
,Michael Lyster
