• Parties answering standard RFIs
• EC’s line of questioning not concerning for now
• Filing not imminent, but could accelerate in coming weeks

The European Commission (EC) has yet to show whether it has serious concerns with the takeover of Electronic Arts under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The parties are engaging in prenotification talks with the enforcer, and the requests for information (RFIs) they are receiving thus far from the Commission do not go beyond the standard questioning that is present in many FSR filings, the sources said.

The information requests have included questions on the financing of the USD 55bn deal and the shareholder structure of the companies involved, one of the sources said.

The companies are in “wait and see” mode, tracking whether the Commission’s line of questioning turns more serious and more specific, which could indicate the enforcer has a real interest in this transaction, the same source added.

The FSR notification of the deal is not imminent, but the process may accelerate in the coming weeks if the Commission does not press the parties further with more rounds of RFIs, according to this source.

The involvement of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF in the transaction is seen as a test of whether the acquisition of a non-EU target can also raise FSR concerns.

On 5 December, the Commission cleared the acquisition of a majority stake in Olam Agri by Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), which his wholly owned by PIF.

An EC spokesperson said that this transaction has not yet been notified under the FSR and did not comment on the specifics of this article.

Electronic Arts and the investor consortium did not reply to requests for comment.