U.S. Approves Ericsson’s $6.2 Billion Vonage Acquisition

One of the world’s biggest makers of 5G cellular equipment, Ericsson announced plans to buy Vonage in November in a bid to expand into new businesses. The New Jersey-based company was a pioneer in selling subscriptions for individuals to make voice calls over the internet, and now focuses on providing businesses with internet-based communications services for customer service and other uses.

Ericsson had originally anticipated completing the merger in the first half of this year, but said in late June that those plans had been delayed up to a month because of an investigation by Cfius, a secretive government panel that determines how foreign deals for U.S. assets affect national security.

Ericsson still faces other regulatory challenges in Washington. It said this week that it was committed to cooperating with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are both probing whether the company failed to disclose alleged bribes for access to terrorist-controlled areas in Iraq. Ericsson has said an internal investigation didn’t identify any employee directly involved in financing terrorist organizations, and that its investigation resulted in disciplinary and remedial steps.

Write to Stu Woo at [email protected]