Synopsys offers to sell two assets in bid for EU okay for $35 billion Ansys deal, sources say

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chip design software company Synopsys has offered to sell an Ansys unit on top of one of its own in a bid to win EU approval for its $35 billion acquisition of the chip design software company, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The European Commission, which acts as the European Union's competition watchdog, is now seeking feedback from rivals and customers on Synopsys' proposal, with a Dec. 16 deadline for responses, the people said.

Synopsys has said it would sell its optical design tool maker Optical Solutions Group to design and emulation company Keysight Technologies, subject to the Ansys deal.

It has now also offered to divest Ansys PowerArtist, including its research, developing, distributing, licensing, selling and marketing. PowerArtist is a tool used to analyse and reduce power to enable power-efficient design.

Synopsys did not offer any behavioural remedies related to its business practices, the people said, which would suggest the EU antitrust enforcer does not have any concerns about interoperability and product bundling following feedback from industry players last month.

Ansys' software is used in creating products ranging from airplanes to tennis rackets for players such as Novak Djokovic.

The Commission is scheduled to decide on the deal, the biggest in the technology sector since Broadcom's $69 billion purchase of software maker VMware a year ago, by Jan. 10.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)