Kyndryl said the ‘politicisation’ of the deal has ‘overshadowed’ potential benefits it could have provided to Dutch citizens.
The Netherlands has blocked Kyndryl’s proposed acquisition of Dutch cloud provider Solvinity, citing a risk to public interest.
Solvinity stores data used by the country’s citizen identification tool DigiD. The company’s tools are also used by public institutions including the tax office and universities. The acquisition would have reportedly set Kyndryl back €100m.
“The [Dutch] Investment Screening Bureau (ISB) advised me to proceed with a complete prohibition of this acquisition. I have made this advice my own and have adopted it,” said Willemijn Aerdts, the country’s minister for the digital economy and sovereignty, in a translated letter to the parliament.
“The Netherlands attaches great value to the presence of foreign, including explicitly American, technology companies and their contribution to the Dutch economy and digital infrastructure,” the minister added, but did not explain why the acquisition would risk public interest.
