TL;DRThe Netherlands blocked IBM spinoff Kyndryl from acquiring Solvinity, the cloud provider that hosts the Dutch digital identity system DigiD. It is the first US acquisition the Dutch Investment Screening Bureau has ever prohibited.
The Dutch government has imposed a “complete prohibition” on the acquisition of Solvinity, a Dutch cloud provider, by Kyndryl, the American IT infrastructure company spun out of IBM in 2021. The deal, valued at roughly €100 million, would have given a US-headquartered firm control over the platform that runs DigiD, the digital identity system used by millions of Dutch residents to access tax, healthcare, pension, and government services.
Willemijn Aerdts, the Dutch minister for the digital economy, announced the decision on Monday in a letter to parliament. The government said the acquisition poses a possible “risk to the public interest” based on the recommendation of the Bureau for Investment Screening, which evaluated the deal under the Netherlands’ foreign investment screening framework.
It is the first time the bureau has blocked a US acquisition since it began operating. The decision was not close. The screening body recommended a full prohibition rather than imposing conditions.
