A group of investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has secured EU antitrust approval for its $55 billion acquisition of video game developer Electronic Arts, the European Commission announced. Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion wealth fund, alongside Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and private equity firm Silver Lake, first announced the deal, described as the largest leveraged buyout in history, in September 2025.
The European Commission, which reviewed the deal under EU merger rules, said the acquisition would not raise competition concerns, clearing one of two major regulatory hurdles facing the transaction. The review examined whether the deal would reduce competition or harm consumers within the bloc, and the Commission’s clean determination removes a significant source of uncertainty for the investor group as it works toward closing the transaction.
The deal is also being examined under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, a newer framework aimed at preventing unfair non-EU government subsidies from benefiting companies acquiring rivals within the 27-country bloc. That review is seen as a bigger hurdle for the transaction, given the involvement of a sovereign wealth fund as one of the lead investors, since the regulation specifically scrutinizes whether state-linked capital could distort competition in the EU market. PIF is also expected to win EU clearance under the subsidy rules, according to people familiar with the matter, with the Commission’s decision on that front due by July 30.
If both approvals are finalized as expected, the Electronic Arts deal would represent one of the largest and most closely watched private equity transactions to clear European regulatory review, reflecting the growing scale of sovereign wealth fund participation in major corporate buyouts and the increasing regulatory attention such deals are drawing across jurisdictions.
