Broadcom: Letter requesting CFIUS to review merger is counterfeit

Earlier Wednesday, at a homeland security hearing, Senator Rand Paul called the committee, known as CFIUS, to investigate the merger. A spokesman for Paul said that the senator's call for a national security review was not based on this letter.

"No one here has seen a memo or founded the need for a review of the CFIUS on anything but the obvious implications of this merger for national security," the spokesman said.

Paul said that if the CFIUS was looking at Broadcom before, it should continue to investigate Broadcom's acquisitions.

"It's not because Broadcom has moved home that we still should not be watching Broadcom," Paul said.

He said CA Technologies network systems are "deeply embedded" in many national security agencies and critical infrastructure facilities in the United States, including 29 nuclear reactors. And 60% of US customers in the electricity sector are served by companies using AC systems, he said.

Companies still need the approval of regulators from the European Union and Japan. The deal was cleared by US antitrust authorities in August.

CFIUS is a separate inter-agency body that reviews certain transactions involving foreign parties for potential national security concerns. The Treasury Department, which runs the committee, declined to comment Wednesday, citing confidentiality rules regarding CFIUS.

It is unclear whether the committee has the legal authority to review the Broadcom merger. A new law signed by Trump in August gives the CFIUS broadened authority to review agreements that could give foreign companies access to sensitive technologies. It is being adopted.

On Wednesday, Broadcom said the CFIUS review was not necessary.

"Broadcom and CA Technologies are two US companies and there is no legal or legal basis for CFIUS to review the current transaction," the company said.