By Natalia Drozdiak

BRUSSELS -- Apple Inc.'s acquisition of the popular song-recognition app Shazam Entertainment Ltd. may adversely impact competition in Europe, European Union antitrust authorities said Tuesday, announcing they would take over the merger review from national regulators in Austria.

The move fits with a broader strategy by the EU to more closely scrutinize mergers involving data-rich companies, but whose revenue falls below traditional thresholds that determine whether a deal merits a review by EU authorities.

Apple initially registered the deal with regulators in Austria, but the EU said it had concluded that regulators in Brussels were "the best placed authority to deal with the potential cross-border effects of the transaction."

Austria, France, Italy, Sweden and several other EU countries asked Brussels to take over the review on concerns the deal could harm competition in their member states as well as impact trade within the European market.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2018 12:34 ET (17:34 GMT)

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