By Edith Hancock
Paramount Skydance offered the European Union's merger watchdog concessions to ease competition concerns as officials look into its planned $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.
The European Commission--the EU's executive arm tasked with screening companies' multi-billion euro deals for competition issues--confirmed on Wednesday that commitments were submitted, saying it has a new provisional July 22 deadline to wrap up its investigation.
The companies offered concessions to the commission on Tuesday, according to an update on the regulator's website. The commission did not provide details into the commitments.
Paramount said it has been working constructively with the commission for eight months and is confident its remedy offer "directly and comprehensively addresses any concerns expressed in the European Commission's preliminary assessment and support the path for timely clearance."
The deal is also being looked at under the EU's foreign subsidies rules as Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's L'imad Holding Company are backing Paramount's bid. It is also being reviewed in the U.K., where culture secretary Lisa Nandy said on Tuesday she could intervene on public interest grounds.
The deal is valued at $110 billion including debt.
Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com